U.S. Subpoenas Firms in Gas Probe

Several energy companies that store natural gas underground said Thursday that they had received subpoenas from federal authorities in an investigation into the run-up in prices last autumn.

Last year natural gas prices rose nearly 50% from October to December.

Industry heavyweights Duke Energy Corp., El Paso Corp., CenterPoint Energy Inc., TXU Corp. and ONEOK Inc. said they received subpoenas from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in April and were cooperating.

Dallas-based Atmos Energy also said it received a subpoena in April requesting storage information the company said it regularly supplied to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Agency. American Electric Power Co. Inc. said it was not subpoenaed, but that the agency in January had requested documents and information in connection with the probe.

In Washington, commission Chairman James Newsome confirmed that the subpoenas were issued but offered no details.

“That relates back to our review of the [price] spike last fall, and the subpoenas those companies have made public are part of our ongoing investigation in that area,” Newsome told reporters after a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on commodity-trading regulatory issues.

The commission has subpoenaed the companies to learn more about how storage data are assembled and then reported to the Energy Information Administration, a federal agency, according to the companies.

The probe follows disclosures in recent years that firms reported false trading volumes and prices to trade publications. Investors make trading decisions based on reported EIA numbers.