A consortium of a number of trading houses, integrated energy companies, and banks are planning to create a new venture, which will be managed and operated as an independent entity.

The participants include energy majors BP, Shell and Statoil; trading houses Gunvor, Koch Supply & Trading, and Mercuria; and banks ABN Amro, ING, and Societe Generale. The new venture intends to develop a blockchain-based digital platform to modernise and transform post-transaction management of physical energy commodities trading, pending relevant regulatory approvals.

The main objective is to reduce administrative operational risks and costs of physical energy trading, and improve the reliability and efficiency of back-end trading operations for all supply chain users, while also opening the door to innovative funding and financing solutions. The venture aims to create a secure, real-time blockchain-based digital platform to manage physical energy transactions from trade entry to final settlement.

“By combining the expertise of some of the largest players in energy and commodity trading with the trade finance credentials of established banks in this space, the new venture will benefit from its shareholders' ability to implement projects, as well as their first-hand understanding of the operational and process opportunities that digitalisation presents,” the official release stated.

The new venture intends to gradually migrate all forms of energy transaction data to the blockchain, improving data quality, further strengthening security, and increasing the speed of settlements industry-wide, while reducing the cost for industry participants.

The platform will be open to the commodity industry and is expected to be operational by the end of 2018.

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