"The Russian side has proposed that our Iranian partners consider the possibility of selling a part of Iran's oil at the St. Petersburg Commodity Exchange," Sergei Shmatko said.
Shmatko, who is the Russian co-chairman of a bilateral intergovernmental trade and economic commission, said the proposal was important in a situation where oil producing countries "are diversifying their trade infrastructure on the world oil market."
An Iranian source close to the negotiations told a RIA Novosti correspondent that Tehran "will closely study" the Russian proposal.
The St. Petersburg Commodity Exchange was founded by a number of oil and transport companies and large banks.
The exchange conducted its first trading session in September 2008, when a small amount of aviation and diesel fuel was sold. Full-scale trading was to have started in early 2009, but has yet to begin.
