UK oil contract threat to US energy prices-senator

[AGENDA21]

NEW YORK, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A plan by Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) to list West Texas crude futures in London could give foreign traders too much sway over U.S. energy prices and leave U.S. regulators powerless to intervene, a U.S. senator and rival exchange warned.

ICE said last week its regulated futures subsidiary, ICE Futures, received approval to list its proposed U.S. oil futures contract in London starting Feb. 3. That would rival the WTI contract <CLc1> now traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the world's largest energy bourse.

The U.K.'s Financial Services Authority said it had no objections to the ICE contract being listed in ICE Futures' markets, ICE said. ICE Futures was formerly the International Petroleum Exchange, based in London.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=mergersNews&storyID=2006-01-30T213122Z_01_N30589530_RTRIDST_0_FINANCIAL-ICE-ENERGY.XML