Imagine what crude oil trading will look like in Asia in 10 years’ time. Probably quite different to like it does now. In recent months oil markets east of Suez have been roiled by the increasing influence of the trading arms of China’s state-controlled giants, PetroChina and Sinopec. PetroChina’s Chinaoil has effectively boosted the price of the benchmark Dubai crude by bidding aggressively for cargoes in the price discovery mechanism run by Platts, known as the Market on Close (MoC) or colloquially as the “window”. This has increased the price of Dubai crude relative to other benchmarks such as Brent, as well as raising the ire of other market participants from producers to traders and refiners outside China. So great is the consternation that the talk of last week’s annual oil […]