What are the best energy trading shops in the US and EuropeUS: RBS Sempra, GS, MS, Constellation?EU: GS, MS, DB?

Not close IMO. I would look for the scruffy guys who grew up in/near the industry, in Houston mostly. Personally I think Centaurus is the top shop in the business. Those guys are soo good, humble, high quality, and rich! I'd give not one, but both testicles to work for John.

QuoteOriginally posted by: LTrainNot close IMO. I would look for the scruffy guys who grew up in/near the industry, in Houston mostly. Personally I think Centaurus is the top shop in the business. Those guys are soo good, humble, high quality, and rich! I'd give not one, but both testicles to work for John. :-)Yeah, I was wondering what had happened to all those Enron traders.

John Arnold.

Heh.. according to the article, John made $3/4 billion for Enron and was paid a paltry $7M bonus. Amazing.

I never understood why so much energy trading was done in Houston. the city really sucks, and I can't see what advantage you would from trading from there. I understand a lot of the traders work for the oil companies, and I believe Southwest is based out of Houston, and they definitely seemed to have hedged their oil exposure based on their ticket prices........ but other than that, I would think NYC would be where all the traders would want to me? I read that he had made 750 million for Enron the year he received the 7MM bonus. His arch-enemy Brian Hunter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Hunter_(trader) ) made 100 MM one year after making Amaranah 2 billion, but we all nowhow that ended up. Ironically, he still is working the the energy industry

Houston sucks, that is true; but on the other hand, living in a broom closet in Manhattan makes it suck slightly less. Southwest is based in Dallas, but do not believe all the stories..Ltrain is right about what are the interesting shops, except one of those the OP listed that has a name and a rep, which is well deserved.

misiti3780 wrote: >> His arch-enemy Brian Hunter After Amaranth brought down MotherRock, I think a lot of old boys in Texas wanted Brain Hunter's head, but I'm not sure John Arnold was the executioner. The rumors were that a large bank started the mud-slide. Once the feeding frenzy started it couldn't be stopped. John did only okay that month.>> I never understood why so much energy trading was done in Houston. I think energy trading is centered in Houston because the broader industry is based in Houston. Although by this logic TMT should be centered in SFO, but it isn't. Whatever.July will provide a telling filter for the gas guys. Soon we will see who's good and who ain't!

When it comes to Non-vanilla stuff, I think all the players are still in the northeast (GS, MS, Sempra). Maybe FPL's operation in Houston??

I didn't think John Arnold was the executioner, I just read that he was on the opposite of all of Amaranth's (Hunter's) trades at the time. http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/4 ... MailedLast year Hunter had a blog up talking about Salengo Capital. He was also talking crap about Deal Breaker for releasing their broshure, and he ended up calling Arnoldan ass clown, which I thought was pretty funny at the time. Unfortunately, the blog link is now broken:http://dealbreaker.com/2007/08/solengo_ ... _to_me.php

Is Centaurus doing any exotics?

QuoteOriginally posted by: rich7804When it comes to Non-vanilla stuff, I think all the players are still in the northeast (GS, MS, Sempra). Maybe FPL's operation in Houston??I know a bit about FPL, their FL location takes on some interesting deals, too. Keep digging.

Are you at FPL?You mean the LARGE Wind deal that didn't go that great? I saw something rather exotic by them, but not sure if they are all that neutral

Nope, there is a lot more going on there than wind pricing. Actually, the small shops and utilities can get very exotic.

How about BCS? I heard they are trying to get bigger in US!