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IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE), the leading electronic energy marketplace and soft commodity exchange, today announced that it has entered into a purchase and leaseback agreement with Intelligence Press, Inc. (IPI), to acquire the natural gas indexes published by IPI in its Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) newsletters. IPI will continue to collect and aggregate prices in the wholesale natural gas market and publish the indexes, and ICE will have the exclusive right to license the indexes for exchange settlement and clearing.
In addition to providing daily and monthly spot price discovery for the industry, NGI’s indexes are used by ICE and others for daily and monthly settlement and clearing, particularly in Midwest and California natural gas markets.
“We are pleased to work with NGI in acquiring the ownership and intellectual property rights for this valuable suite of indexes,” said David Goone, Chief Strategic Officer for ICE. “Together with the recently announced licensing of the leading Canadian index through our NGX alliance, we believe we are ensuring our ability to settle these important cleared contracts.”
“Under the agreement IPI will continue to have full responsibility for the price collection, aggregation and publication of the indexes,” said Ellen Beswick, IPI's Publisher and Founder. “We have worked side-by-side with ICE, regulators and the industry to improve the price transparency process. We have developed a strong respect for the ICE operations and the ICE personnel with whom we have worked. This agreement puts us on the path to the future, working with an exceptional company.”
ICE is a major sponsor of IPI's GasMart annual conference and tradeshow which will be held in Chicago May 9-11; ICE will host an industry reception and conduct a workshop for traders on its trading system.
About IntercontinentalExchange
IntercontinentalExchange® (NYSE: ICE) operates the leading global, electronic marketplace for
trading both futures and OTC energy contracts and the leading soft commodity exchange. ICE’s
markets offer access to a range of contracts based on crude oil and refined products, natural gas,
power and emissions, as well as agricultural commodities including cocoa, coffee, cotton,
ethanol, orange juice, wood pulp and sugar, in addition to currency and index futures and options.
ICE® conducts its energy futures markets through its U.K. regulated London-based subsidiary,
ICE Futures, Europe’s leading energy exchange. ICE Futures offers liquid markets in the world’s
leading oil benchmarks, Brent Crude futures and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude futures,
trading nearly half of the world’s global crude futures by volume of commodity traded. ICE
conducts its agricultural commodity futures and options markets through its U.S. regulated
subsidiary, the New York Board of Trade®. For more than a century, the NYBOT® has provided
global markets for food, fiber and financial products. ICE was added to the Russell 1000® Index
on June 30, 2006. Headquartered in Atlanta, ICE also has offices in Calgary, Chicago, Houston,
London, New York and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.theice.com and
www.nybot.com.
About Intelligence Press, Inc.
Intelligence Press has been collecting, aggregating and publishing spot natural gas price indexes
since 1983. Its natural gas and power news and pricing publications available at
intelligencepress.com include Natural Gas Intelligence, NGI's Daily Gas Price Index, NGI's
Weekly Gas Price Index and Bidweek Survey and Power Market Today. IPI’s more than 100 daily
and monthly price indexes, determined from confidential transaction information, are provided to
IPI voluntarily by industry traders according to guidelines set out by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC), and are relied on by the industry for price discovery. IPI hosts
the annual industry conference and tradeshow, GasMart scheduled this year for May 9-11 in
downtown Chicago.
