China Gets Its Own Crude Contract

Crude oil is flowing eastward as rising demand in Asia outstrips the West’s stagnant appetite. Next year, China wants traders—including oil speculators, refiners, and big state-owned companies that buy and sell futures contracts—to follow a similar path. By the end of 2015, China, the world’s No. 1 oil importer as of April, may start its own crude futures contract.

The idea is to establish a Chinese rival to the world’s two most traded oil contracts: West Texas Intermediate (WTI), housed on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and Brent Crude Futures, owned by ICE Futures Europe in London. The yuan-based contract will trade on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange and will be among the first Chinese commodity contracts available to foreign investors as China promotes global use of its currency.