Russia’s Duma passes bill on foreign access to exchange oil trade

MOSCOW, Jun 24 (PRIME) -- Russia’s State Duma, the parliament’s lower chamber, has approved a bill to allow foreign companies to participate in trade in futures for export crude on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX) in the third of three required readings, according to the document seen by PRIME on Friday.

Previously, Nikolai Gonchar, head of the State Duma’s financial markets committee, said that the bill aims to allow these operations on the Russian market and have a chance to influence prices.

Deputy Central Bank Chairman Vladimir Chistyukhin said earlier that Russia is one of the largest exporters of energy but has no influence on prices, while the world pricing system is not transparent.

To become law, the bill must be approved by the Federation Council, the parliament’s upper house, in one reading, and later be signed by President Vladimir Putin.

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