Prices remained low (less than ＄30 a barrel), but mechanisms were set in motion that would raise prices and vastly increase oil company profits.
Enron had created specialized software that allowed futures to be traded OTC
-- exchanges outside of the formal exchange markets.

The software and what came to be known as the
Enron loophole for OTC trading allowed futures exchanges without government oversight.
Also in 2000, a consortium of oil companies and financial institutions created the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in London to trade European oil futures, although the group
was headquartered in Atlanta. Since the exchange
was in Europe, the CFTC's reach didn't extend to it. Up to that
point, only OTC speculators could trade outside of CFTC oversight.
But once the commission allowed U.S. ICE, rather than only on NYMEX, the
CFTC lost its ability to regulate even formal exchanges. Once traded on ICE, an American futures derivative fell out of
the jurisdiction of the CFTC. The convergence of the Enron loophole and
the establishment of ICE meant the CFTC could no longer accurately police
speculators who sought to drive up energy prices through futures speculation.