FAS discussed establishing oil benchmark with a delegation from China

On 22 April 2016, Deputy Head of FAS Anatoly Golomolzin had a meeting with representatives of Chinese business and mass media led by the Editor-in-Chief of the “Energy News” newspaper, Se Shuts Zyan.

The parties emphasized the importance of productive cooperation between Russia and China in the field of antimonopoly cooperation. The competition authorities of Russia and China have a long history of both bilateral cooperation and under the frame of BRICS events.

A fact that the results of such efforts in terms of competition advocacy and deepening cooperation between our countries are reflected in the leading mass media is significant.

The Chinese colleagues pointed out that FAS publications in the “People’s Daily” newspaper in May 2015 generated considerable interest of Chinese specialists and general public.

One of the items on the agenda was establishing oil benchmark. This was a follow-up discussion of the dialogue between the two countries that took place at the III Russia-China Summit (21 April 2016, Moscow), where Anatoly Golomolzin made a report on “Russian oil “Benchmark”.

“We have made great progress in establishing oil benchmark. The national policy is in line with the instructions from the Presidential Commission for developing the fuel-and-energy complex”, said Anatoly Golomolzin.

He explained that joint efforts by FAS, the Central Bank of Russia and the Federal Tax Service formed the Exchange Committee, under the frame of which the work is done to launch Russian oil benchmark.

“SPIMEX has devised an exchange tool for trading export oil contracts. We know that similar work is undertaken in China with import contracts, for instance at the Shanghai Exchange”, said Deputy Head of FAS.

Anatoly Golomolzin pointed out that the work towards creating Russian and Chinese oil benchmarks makes world trade more efficient and attractive for both oil exporters and importers.

The Chinese delegation expressed their profound interest in continuing cooperation in this area.

Mr. Golomolzin informed his colleagues from China that at the IV BRICS Competition Conference in South Africa in 2015 the Head of FAS Igor Artemiev had put forward a proposal to combine efforts of those countries to establish oil benchmark. This proposal was unanimously supported by all five countries.

Summing up, Deputy Head of FAS Anatoly Golomolzin stated that FAS is responsible for control over foreign investments in strategically important sectors and is interested in creating favourable investment climate.  “Investment projects shape business. FAS is always open to a dialogue with the business community. Here one of the possible forms of cooperation can be ongoing meetings with businessmen from Russia and China on the basis of the embassies and the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of our countries”.

The parties supported the proposal and emphasized that such cooperation format can become an efficient means of creating a favourable investment climate and strengthening economic cooperation.