OREANDA-NEWS. Gazprom Neft is consistently increasing its exchange trade in petroleum products. The company plans to bring its exchange sales of light petroleum products up to 480,000 tons in the third quarter of 2013. This will amount to a 20 percent increase over the second quarter. The light petroleum products in question include gasoline, diesel fuel, and aviation kerosene.

Over the first eight months of 2013, Gazprom Neft increased its light petroleum products exchange sales to 1,159,000 tons, which exceeds the sales volume for the first eight months of 2012 by 104,000 tons.

The company is planning to trade on exchanges at least 10 percent of its monthly gasoline production, 8 percent of its diesel fuel, and 10 percent of its aviation kerosene. This meets the requirements of the Decree of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service and Ministry of Energy which establishes the minimum quantities of traded petroleum products.

In keeping with the Decree as well as approved criteria for the regularity and consistency of commodity trading, Gazprom Neft will continue to develop exchange trade and develop new bases, forms, and tools. In particular, in order to fully supply the domestic market with petroleum products and meet the demand of end consumers across the country, the company is also planning to sell the products at regional balance sites based on the principles of nondiscriminatory access.

Gazprom Neft's practice of keeping reserves of light petroleum products that can be traded on exchanges in case of a seasonal rise in demand helps increase sales and maintain consistency of exchange trade. Furthermore, the company's schedule of autumn refinery maintenance and repairs takes into account a possible increase of market demand during seasonal consumption peaks.

Gazprom Neft is an active player in the promotion of exchange trade. In 2012, the company sold over 2.09 million tons of petroleum products on the SPIMEX exchange, which made the company the leader among other market players. Gazprom Neft was the first company to achieve the status of a SPIMEX guaranteed supplier for futures contracts, and in June 2013 it became the first company on the market to register OTC crude oil transactions on SPIMEX.

In an effort to ensure maximum transparency of its sales activities, Gazprom Neft coordinated petroleum products trade practice rules with Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service in February 2013. The trade practice rules define the basic principles of petroleum products sale, including the priorities of supplies to the domestic market, equal access and equal trading terms for all counterparties, and streamlined price setting methods. In keeping with the principles of established trade practices, Gazprom Neft has begun reorganizing its system of regional sales, which involves the separation of wholesale and retail business. The reorganization is still underway, and the company plans to review the first lessons learnt in early 2014.