Mercuria hires Noble traders to start coal desk-sources

PERTH, July 7 (Reuters) - Mercuria Energy Group Ltd, one of the world's top five independent oil traders, has hired three senior coal trading executives from Noble Energy Ltd (NOBG.SI) to start a coal trading desk, two traders said on Tuesday.

Chris Goodman, Jason Baird and Geoff Kelly resigned last week to join privately owned Swiss trader Mercuria to start a physical and derivatives coal book, said one source with direct knowledge of the move.

Spokesmen for Mercuria and Noble did not immediately return phone calls or emails seeking comment. An employee at Noble said that Goodman and Baird had both left the firm.

Traders said Goodman most recently headed Noble's Colombian coal business after having set up the firm's Indonesian coal operations, while Baird was heading the freight division for Noble's energy coal team in Asia and Kelly was part of the Noble's coal team in Indonesia.

Noble's energy coal trading business also lost two of its key coal trading executives, Andrew Bingham and Andrew Horn, last month to oil trader Trafigura, which is setting up a coal desk.

One of the sources said Noble was hiring some traders who had worked for Constellation Energy (CEG.N), which sold off its coal trading operations to Goldman Sachs (GS.N) this year.

Growing liquidity in the international physical steam coal market has lured new players into the coal market, previously dominated by a handful of key producers, consumers and middlemen.

These new players, including investment banks and major oil traders, are also seeking cleared trading of coal swaps and physical cargoes to introduce some of the tools and methods long-established in the oil market.

For a factbox on the world's top coal trading companies, click on [ID:nLI629980] (Reporting by Fayen Wong; Editing by Ben Tan)