• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 6 mins GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 3 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 5 hours If hydrogen is the answer, you're asking the wrong question
  • 4 days Oil Stocks, Market Direction, Bitcoin, Minerals, Gold, Silver - Technical Trading <--- Chris Vermeulen & Gareth Soloway weigh in
  • 5 days The European Union is exceptional in its political divide. Examples are apparent in Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Netherlands, Belarus, Ireland, etc.
  • 18 hours Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs
  • 4 days "What’s In Store For Europe In 2023?" By the CIA (aka RFE/RL as a ruse to deceive readers)
Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. 

More Info

Premium Content

Yuan-Priced Crude Futures Could Arrive Before Christmas

After years of setbacks and delays, China may be days away from launching a yuan-priced crude oil futures contract to make its currency more international and challenge the dominance of the petrodollar.  

Many Chinese investors eagerly anticipate the start of yuan oil futures trading on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, with hope it will come just in time for Christmas, when western markets will be either closed or calmer than usual.

Although local investors can’t wait to pour yuan into another commodity contract, international investors may not be as eager because it is not clear yet how much freedom China would allow in that trade. International traders may have to swallow Chinese intervention on the markets or rigid capital controls, Bloomberg reported last week.

In July, the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, INE, completed a four-step trial in crude oil futures denominated in yuan and said that it would carry preparatory works for the listing of crude oil futures, and would try to launch the contract by the end of this year.

The launch of the yuan oil futures contract will be a wake-up call for traders and investors who haven’t been paying attention to Chinese plans to create the so-called petroyuan and shift oil trade out of petrodollars, Adam Levinson, managing partner and chief investment officer at hedge fund manager Graticule Asset Management Asia (GAMA), said in October.

Although the petroyuan is not expected to immediately supplant the petrodollar, the world’s top oil importer launching a crude oil futures contract in its domestic currency is a sign that the Chinese want their yuan to play an increasingly important role in global trade, starting with the oil trade.

On the yuan front, the Chinese scored a success for their currency last year, when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) included the yuan in its Special Drawing Right (SDR) basket—an international reserve asset created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement the existing official reserves of member countries. The yuan joined the U.S. dollar, the euro, the yen, and the British pound sterling in the basket as the IMF recognized “an important milestone in the integration of the Chinese economy into the global financial system.” Related: IEA Dashes Bullish Sentiment In Oil

After years of delays, it looks like China could meet this time its self-imposed deadline to launch the yuan oil futures by the end of this year.

“An official launch during Christmas would be appropriate. The western market would be quiet and allow the Shanghai exchange as well as Chinese investors to adjust in the early days,” Chinese trader Yuan Quwei told Bloomberg.  

“The Chinese oil industry wants to have a local hedging tool while financial institution investors look on Shanghai crude futures as an important product in their portfolios,” Wang Xiao, an oil analyst at Guotai Junan Futures Co in Shanghai, commented for Bloomberg. “Shanghai oil will be the first Chinese product that allows foreign investors to trade directly and such involvement will surely bring more volumes,” Wang noted.

According to other analysts, the success of the yuan oil futures contract greatly depends on the Chinese regulation (and room for intervention) on the market, which could deter international investors from bringing huge volumes into the contract. Others believe that while it makes sense that the world’s key oil import market launch yuan oil futures, it would take years for the yuan to really threaten the supremacy of the “entrenched” petrodollar.

For now, investors are looking to see if this year Santa will bring them that long-mooted, long-delayed yuan crude oil futures contract.

ADVERTISEMENT

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:


Download The Free Oilprice App Today

Back to homepage





Leave a comment
  • Greg Sheehan on December 17 2017 said:
    Is this the contract that is convertible into gold?
  • Curtis Matthias on December 19 2017 said:
    Greg, sort of, short answer is yes.

    Long answer,

    The Yuan Gold Fix launched April 19, 2016 which created a benchmark price for gold in Yuan. At first Yuan was not convertible for gold, and it may still not be. But China is working to make the Yuan convertible to gold. If it is not yet soon it will be convertible, the benchmark was a first step. Since the benchmark was launched this site was created, (http://didthesystemcollapse.com/) it compares the benchmark price in London vs Shanghai. It is rather interesting to see that they are in fact different, marginally. It is also fun and satirical web address.

    If China does start buying oil for yuan with this new launch, owners of that Yuan could then convert their Yuan to gold in China. Notice that the price of gold in China is greater than the price in London, it's been like that every time I check the site.

    Oil to gold story...
    China purchases oil in Yuan, owner of Yuan converts to gold at a better price than London(feels like a deal). Increases the global use of Yuan and the appearance of increased demand for gold as holding rise.

    The oil futures piece is another step, but nothing is for sure yet.

Leave a comment




EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News