Texas Attorney General Now Investigating Natural Gas Price Increases, Issues Interrogatories To ICE On Transactions, Sellers

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) to Intercontinental Exchange Holdings, Inc. which the AG's office said is, "a natural gas exchange that saw massive price increases during the February winter storm that swept through Texas."

"As we learn more about what drove pricing spikes during the recent winter storm disaster, I am expanding the scope of my investigation to include the natural gas industry as well as electricity providers," Paxton said. "These massive price increases impacted businesses and consumers alike and will have long term effects on Texas. Hardworking Texans who pulled together to get their communities through this disaster deserve transparency and justice."

The Civil Investigative Demand to ICE demands that ICE produce the following:

1. Documents sufficient to identify the sellers and purchasers ('participants') in all Relevant Trades during the Relevant Time Period. If the documents identify the entity with a trading code number, produce a key sufficient to identify the corporate entity by name.

2. For each of the participant entities identified in response to Request #1, produce documents sufficient to identify the following for each transaction:

a. The date and time of the transaction;

b. The relevant trade type;

c. The dollar amount of the completed transaction;

d. The volume of natural gas traded in that transaction; and

e. The relevant hub.

3. All communications with any state, local, or federal governmental entity regarding the investigation of rapidly escalating natural gas prices in Texas during the Relevant Time Period.

4. All communications with participants regarding the rapidly escalating natural gas prices in Texas during the Relevant Time Period.