In early June, Russia’s Economic Development Ministry, St. Petersburg authorities, the U.S. NYMEX and Expertica of Gibraltar will enter into an agreement on setting up an international commodity exchange in St. Petersburg. The actual creation will start closer to the fall, while the trading in historic building of St. Petersburg Exchange is slated to begin no sooner than in 2009.

On June 8, Russia’s Economic Development Minister German Gref, St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko, representatives of New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and its oil advisor Expertica Limited (Gibraltar) will ink a cooperation agreement to set up an international commodity exchange in St. Petersburg, said St. Petersburg Vice Governor Yury Molchanov, who is in charge of the project. The agreement will be the first document for creating an oil exchange that Economic Development Ministry intends to launch by the year-end.

NYMEX and Expertica informally confirmed the dates of agreement’s signing. In Economic Development Ministry, they refused to provide the official confirmation. “The official decision on signing the agreement hasn’t been made yet,” Deputy Economic Development Minister Kirill Androsov said.

The analysts speculate that, nowadays, setting up an oil exchange is more for purposes of promotion. “We don’t need an oil exchange,” said Alexander Razuvaev, chief of the analytical department at Megatrustoil. In Russia, the procedures of selling/buying crude oil and petroleum have been established already. Neither traders nor oil companies appear too eager to shift to exchange trading, signaling the project will probably have to begin with no contracts ensured.

News source: kommersant.com
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