MOSCOW- The St Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX) has launched crude oil trading with loadings on the peninsula of Crimea that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, data published by the exchange showed on Tuesday.
Several Russian companies have been placed under sanctions by the West over Moscow's annexation of Crimea and its role in the Ukraine crisis. International companies risk penalties if they are involved in operations on the peninsula.
Trading in oil to be loaded from the Crimea began on Monday. The exchange has not revealed the sellers. One of the delivery bases is owned by the Chernomorneftegaz company, which produces oil and gas in Crimea.
The exchange said 60 tonnes of oil were for sale for lifting by rail from Aivazovskaya station, 25 tonnes were set to be lifted by road vehicles from the Feodosia oil hub and 25 tonnes of oil was to be transported from Semyonovka delivery point.
All three lots were offered for 37,730 roubles ($557) per tonne.
SPIMEX had already introduced the trading of stable gas condensate for lifting from Crimea.
($1 = 67.7298 roubles)
(Reporting by Ludmila Zaramenskikh Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin Editing by Edmund Blair) ((vladimir.soldatkin@reuters.com; +7 495 775 12 42;))
