Anti-Monopoly Minister on selling oil products on exchanges

It is necessary to amend the law on commodity exchanges for organizing sales of oil products on exchanges, Russian Anti-Monopoly Minister Ilya Yuzhanov reported at a press conference today. According to him, current legislation sets a number of restrictions for bank participation in oil product trade on exchanges, oil product clearing and transportation.

The Minister also reported that on December 24, 2002, representatives of oil companies had met with the management of the Transneft oil transportation company and the Transnefteprodukt oil product transporter. This meeting was devoted to organizing oil product trade on exchanges. The participants of the meeting came to the conclusion that it was too early to discuss oil product sales on exchanges. In the future, they will meet with representatives of financial circles and credit institutions and discuss the creation of an exchange market for oil products.