Nexen Sells Gas Trading Book To Goldman Sachs (NXY, GS)

Nexen Inc. (

) announced the sale of its North American natural gas trading operation to Goldman Sachs

. The companies have not disclosed the financial terms of the deal. The pact will help Nexen in transferring some of its financial risk. Nexen (

) is Canada’s fifth-largest independent energy company. Its Vice-President Pierre Alvarez said, “We can confirm the sale.” Reuters has reported that the trading book will be acquired by J. Aron, Goldman’s commodity trading arm. J. Aron is headquartered in New York and trades gas, precious metals, foreign exchange and over-the-counter options. Nexen took this step to streamline its operations. The company had earlier said that its operations are more skewed towards oil and it wants its trading to reflect that. Nexen shares dropped 2.7% following the news.