A report in Thursday's edition of the Wall Street Journal suggests a setback for UBS in its attempts to revive the Enron's energy trading business.

The report says that some of Enron's most successful energy traders are set to quit the unit, which UBS recently acquired. It adds that at least six wholesale energy traders, including Enron's former chief natural gas trader and the head of the options desk have turned down offers to stay.

The newspaper said one of those leaving was a 27-year-old dealer who helped build Enron Online into a heavyweight of the energy-trading world.

The departures come as a 90-day period for big retention bonuses paid by Enron ends on Thursday.

UBS Warburg Energy beat off rival bids last month from Citigroup and BP to persuade bankruptcy courts to allow it to take over Enron's energy business. The unit accounted for 25 per cent of the world energy trade before the company's collapse.

UBS Warburg is to pay Enron's creditors a third of the division's profits over the next ten years. It has an option to buy one third of Enron's stake in the unit after three years and the rest of the holding in the following two years.

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