NCME Trade Mission to London, England

On February 20–22, 2002, NCME led a trade mission to London, England for several NCME member companies. The purpose of the trade mission was to promote NCME and provide participating members with the opportunity to develop relationships with, and promote products and services to, potential buyers and strategic business partners globally.

Participating NCME members included:

· NCME Chairman Jerry Curry, Victoria International (Natural Gas)

· Ezekiel Patten III, Patten Energy Enterprises, Inc. (Lubricants & Natural Gas)

· Francois Wellington, BW Energy Group (NYMEX Energy Futures Trader)

· NCME General Counsel Thomas Duckenfield, Perennial Strategy Group (Consultant)

· Yuri Taddesse, Vintage Consult International LLC (Consultant)

· Justin Gray, Esq., Capital Diversity (Consultant)

The delegation participated in several meetings with high level executives at Shell International Ltd., BPAmoco P.L.C., and Glencore Ltd. concerning (1) the goals and vision of NCME; (2) the capabilities of the individual delegation member companies; (3) opportunities that might be available to work with BPAmoco with respect to trading commodities and buying petroleum, natural gas, and minerals; and (4) the benefits to each of the host company’s of becoming a corporate member of NCME. Each of the company’s executives pledged to continue a dialogue with NCME and put forth best efforts to partner with NCME companies in the U.S. and abroad.

To date NCME companies have negotiated and secured several business relationships with the above companies. For example, BW Energy Group has received several orders to trade petroleum for Glencore on the NYMEX.

In fulfillment of its mission to obtain information about specific programs of interest to NCME members, the delegation garnered the following information about Shell, BPAmoco, and Glencore:

Shell

Shell Gas & Power is one of the five businesses of the Shell Group. It works closely with the Group's Exploration and Production business, which operates 'upstream' in the production of gas reserves. Having pioneered the gas operations thirty years ago, it is now one of the largest equity producers of natural gas with a fast-growing presence in the Power business. Shell operates 'downstream' to process and transport natural gas, develop power plants and market gas and electricity to customers around the world including governments, industrial and commercial businesses and residential. Shell’s Gas & Power business already stretches across 27 countries and, as the world searches for greener forms of energy, Shell expects demand for natural gas - the cleanest hydrocarbon - to double over the next two decades. To meet demand Shell is developing activities in a further 18 countries.

Most of its operations are joint ventures with governments or local and international co-venturers. Shell provides the technical and operational leadership for many of its joint venture projects. Its co-venturers choose Shell because not only does the company apply leading technology, but it also invents it and delivers major projects on schedule.

All companies in the Shell Group share a strong commitment to sustainable development. In practice this means balancing the three elements of economic, environmental and social performance. This approach allows long-term projects to operate harmoniously in local communities with the support of national governments.

The Shell Group is one of the world's largest and most experienced marketers and traders of energy. It operates as an energy partner, helping fuel users increase their productivity and competitive position. Shell’s expertise spans the full range of its customers' energy requirements.

In addition to energy and risk products, Shell companies offer assistance in:

* Energy marketing and trading * Risk management * Energy utilization * Asset and supply portfolio management * Financial services * Power generation * Natural gas transportation and storage

In the U.S., Coral Energy (Shell’s joint venture company) ranks 11th in gas sales and 19th in power sales. Coral's operations include marketing alliances and supply outsourcing agreements with major utilities and co-operatives and tolling agreements across power generation plants.

BPAmoco

BPAmoco's supplier diversity program oversees the utilization of minorities and women owned businesses in the BPAmoco supply chain and encourages the development of local economies and local entrepreneurial skills. Last year, minority- and women-owned businesses provided more than $400 million in supplies and services to BPAmoco in the US. During the next three years, BPAmoco is committed to increasing its volume of purchases from minority- and women-owned suppliers to represent 6 percent of its U.S. third-party spending. The company has also invested more than $19 million in more than 80 companies, including Cole Chemical, through its Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Program. Through its supplier diversity program, BPAmoco provides minority and woman business owners scholarships to business schools including Dartmouth's Tuck Program and the Advanced Management Education Program at Northwestern University. Through its involvement with the National Minority Business Development Council's business consortium fund, BPAmoco also contributes working capital to support minority business development.

Glencore International AG

Glencore, a privately-owned company organized under the laws of Switzerland and, together with its subsidiaries is a leading, diversified natural resources group with worldwide activity in the mining, smelting, refining, processing and trading of metals and minerals, energy products and agricultural products. Glencore is engaged in the physical trading of commodities on a global basis, purchasing physical commodities as principal, mostly from producers and selling and delivering these commodities to industrial consumers such as car manufacturers, steel mills, public utilities and flour mills. Glencore also provides financing, logistics, marketing and purchasing services to producers and consumers of commodities. These activities are supported by strategic investments in industrial assets relating to Glencore's core physical trading business.

In addition to meeting with executives at the above companies, the delegation attended several seminars at the Institute of Petroleum Week Conference, including the15th Oil Price Seminar sponsored by NYMEX: "The Changing Face of the Energy Market: Implications for the Industry" and the European Downstream Oil Industry Seminar: "Challenges of Working in the EU Business Environment." During the former seminar, the delegation engaged the Executive Director of NYMEX and secured a meeting a few weeks later for NCME member company BW Energy Group, the only African American owned firm trading on the NYMEX.

NCME plans future trade missions to Brazil, Russia, Nigeria, Mexico, Gambia, China and Venezuela.