China bets on a yuan-oil bonanza

The country's long-delayed crude oil futures contract promises much, but doubts persist

The Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE)—a child of the Shanghai Futures Exchange—continues to excite and frustrate domestic and international market participants over the launch of its crude-oil futures contract. Banks, whose market-making role would be crucial to the success of the contract, along with physical and financial crude-oil traders, are keen to trade on the INE. But continuing delays have frustrated some, while others debate just how much of an impact the contract could have on the international oil scene. “We’re ready to go,” says the head of oil trading at a multinational bank, based in Singapore. “But we have been for months. Everything’s in place. We have clients at