Xi Jinping’s campaign to replace the dollar with the Chinese yuan in the global energy trade is having a seriously great September.
Last week, Russian giant Gazprom announced an agreement to invoice payments for shipments to China in yuan and rubles instead of dollars. Oil colossus Rosneft PJSC is also rolling out Russia’s biggest-ever yuan-denominated bond. According to Bloomberg, Rosneft will seek bids for at least 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) of bonds on September 13.
Rosneft’s foray follows similar transactions by other Russian commodity export powers like aluminum behemoth United Co Rusal International PJSC and gold miner Polyus PJSC. There are reports, too, that Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft is pivoting to yuan bonds, as is iron-ore miner Metalloinvest Holding Co.