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Foreign oil traders to get access to Russian market in 2016 — official

© AP Photo/Hasan Jamali

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Russian oil benchmark launch expected in 2016

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Foreign oil traders will receive access to the Russian market in 2016, Deputy Head of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service Anatoly Golomolzin told TASS on Thursday.

"We expect that this will be done in 2016," he said when answering the question about access of foreign oil traders to the Russian market.

According to Golomolzin, the decision to attract foreign participants to the local market was made within the project to launch Russian benchmark in trading of oil export contracts. "Currently, trial trading is underway," he added.

As TASS reported earlier the Bank of Russia assumes it’s necessary to allow foreign traders to participate in local oil trading. Meanwhile, as of today the working legislation does not imply direct participation of foreign legal entities in Russian trading.

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The St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange together with Energy Ministry, Central Bank, Finance Ministry, Economic Development Ministry, Federal Antimonopoly Service and oil companies have been involved in creating a new Russian oil benchmark for almost 2 years. The benchmark will provide the budget and Russian oil companies with extra revenues of $0.5-1 a barrel, the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange said earlier. Dollar will be used in calculations at the initial stage. The Russian ruble, the euro and the yuan may be used later. The Russian benchmark is also planned to be used for calculation of oil export duties.

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan