Shanghai to launch spot trading

The Shanghai Petroleum Exchange (SPE) plans to launch spot trading of crude oil, No.0 diesel and No.93 gasoline within the first half of 2009. SPE said it may charge a commission of 0.05% to 0.08% on the value of each exchanged contract. The exchange plans to ink contracts with oil depots in the Tianjin Municipality, Shandong Province and Nanjing and Jiangyin cities in Jiangsu Province, China, to act as delivery hubs. SPE, founded in 2006, currently allows spot trading of four oil and petrochemicals products—fuel oil, toluene, styrene and dioctyl phthalate. China has two other petroleum exchanges, in Beijing and Dalian City, both of which offer spot trading of oil and petrochemical products. (February 19, 2009)