LUKoil is setting up a crude oil trading desk in Houston, according to energy trade publication SparkSpread and confirmed by an industry source.
The venture was formed through Litasco, LUKoil's international trading arm, and will be known as Lukoil Pan Americas.
The company has hired Ashutosh Redkar, a crude oil trader at Anadarko Petroleum in Woodlands, Texas, to set up the desk, the SparkSpread report said.
A LUKoil representative in New York did not immediately return a request for comment.
Global oil markets have turned their attention in the last two years to the United States, which has seen a resurgence in oil production from shale formations in North Dakota and Texas.
(Reuters)
