Indian commodity exchanges plan to start electronic trading of natural gas in October and introduce oil, gas and electricity derivatives next year, officials said on Wednesday.
"Next month we will launch a pilot project for spot trading in natural gas on a delivery basis from a pipeline in Gujarat," A. Hari Prasad, chief of strategic initiatives, National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, Bombay, told Reuters.
He said the exchange had held talks with gas consumers, suppliers and the Gujarat State Petronet Ltd., which owns the pipeline that transports 10 million cubic meters a day.
"We want to include other pipelines also and subsequently develop a futures market," he said, adding the exchange was also planning to launch electricity derivatives.
The exchange had discussed the plan with Royal Dutch/Shell , which plans to build a terminal to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the end of this year, and Britain's Cairn Energy that has found oil and gas in India.
India's Multi Comodities Exchange, also based in Bombay, hopes to provide trading and hedging in crude oil and refined products as well as electricity, industry officials say.
They say the exchange is seeking the approval of India's Forward Markets Commission to offer crude oil and refined products derivatives.