Through its extensive network of pipelines, Enron was initially well positioned
to intermediate between producers and utilities. The company had expertise in
managing the physical logistics of delivering gas to customers through its pipelines.
It quickly developed expertise in managing the trading business risks. These risks
included exposure to general gas spot market volatility, exposure to gas price
uctuations at particular production and delivery locations (since gas cannot be
transported costlessly from one location to another), exposure to reserve risks
(since Enron had to ensure that it would have suf cient gas reserves to be able to
meet its commitments to utilities) and the risk that counterparties in its derivative
transactions would default