OREANDA-NEWS  On 10 October was announced, that a futures contract on Brent crude oil was launched on Futures and Options on RTS – FORTS market. The contract code on the trading system is BR. RTS is the Russian Trading System, Moscow’s leading international exchange.

Brent oil is a marker crude on the global energy market. Brent is also a reference  price for  Russian Urals origin oil. The availability of a Brent and Urals contract on FORTS will allow users to build Russian time-zone arbitrage strategies in these markets.

The launch of this contract gives new opportunities to the FORTS participants for investing into commodities assets and hedging price risks.

This contract is expected to be of interest  to the oil producers because it will allow them to hedge the variation in prices between Brent and Urals. It will also allow an absolute hedge against Brent as a marker crude – which is particularly valuable during periods of high volatility. In this context, the costs of hedging can be fully charged to the cost of the end product as all transactions are performed under Russian legislation in Russian rubles.

RTS has been supported in its preparations to list a Brent crude futures contract by the large Urals cash and forward market. In this context Moscow’s time zone position between Far East and European markets will provide an important indicator of market activity in the 24 hour global market for crude oil in addition to enhancing Moscow as an increasingly important international financial centre.

To find more information on Brent Crude Oil futures specifications, please visit http://www.rts.ru/s688.

For further information, please contact the RTS Public Relations Department at +7(495)705-9031, 500-3840.