Speaking at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Alexander Potapushkin said: "We expect that a period of trial trading will start in August. In 2009, a futures and options market section will be launched."
The exchange's capitalization after the oil futures trading starts will reach "several trillions rubles," Potapushkin added.
The CEO of Russia's energy giant, Alexei Miller, said that Gazprom had started establishing an exchange in St. Petersburg, which will trade gas futures. "Its launch is planned for next year," Miller said.
The St. Petersburg raw material and commodity exchange started operating in May. The exchange was established by Russia's oil giants, including Rosneft, Gazprom Neft and Tatneft.
Russia's then-president, Vladimir Putin, said in his state of the nation address to parliament in 2006 that Russia, as a leading oil exporting nation, should establish its own oil exchange to trade crude and petroleum products in rubles.
