Foreign oil traders to be allowed into the Russian market in 2016

​Foreign oil traders will be allowed to enter the Russian market in 2016, the deputy head of FAS, A. Golomolzin, said.

The decision on the attraction of foreign participants to the Russian market was made in the framework of the project on the launch of the Russian benchmark and it will contribute to the realization of oil export contacts. Now trial trades are being held, he said.

The Central Bank of Russia considers necessary to allow foreign traders to participate in the trades of Russian oil. Today the existing law doesn’t presuppose the direct participation of foreign legal entities in the trades.

The foundation of the benchmark of the Russian oil is being held by the SPIMEX along with the Ministry of Energy, Central Bank, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Development, FAS and oil companies. SPIMEX offers 2 futures: Urals and ESPO. Today there are two main export oil flows from Russia: Urals which is shipped from 3 European ports by the Druzhba oil pipeline, and ESPO from the Kozmino port and by the pipeline to China. In particular, from 10.5 mln barrels of oil extracted in Russia per day, the stake of Urals is 3-3.5 mln barrels. The volume of the Russian Urals/ESPO oil supply to the international markets by twice exceeds the volume of BFOE, Oman and Dubai brands supply together.