BEIJING, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The China Emissions Exchange inShenzhen has granted a trading license to Singapore-based brokerGinga Petroleum, with another eight foreign utilities andtrading firms waiting in line.
Ginga became the first non-Chinese firm granted a foreigncurrency account to join Shenzhen's pilot emissions tradingscheme, one of seven set up in the world's biggest-emittingnation ahead of a nationwide market set to begin in 2016.
Other companies looking to join the Shenzhen scheme includecompanies from Europe and the United States.
Ginga on Friday bought 10,000 emission permits in a privatedeal settled in euros at an undisclosed price. Shenzhen'ssecondary market for carbon permits closed on Friday at 57.71yuan ($9.77) for 2014 permits, down by 10 percent.
Ginga has been looking for an opportunity to join theShenzhen carbon scheme because of its "promise", said Amy Zhang,a trader with Ginga.
The Shenzhen market, covering around 33 million tonnes ofcarbon dioxide annually, is tiny compared to the world's largest- the EU emissions trading system, which regulates over 2billion tonnes.
A national Chinese market, when fully developed, will dwarfthe European scheme, and some foreign carbon traders are eagerto get an early foothold in the market.
A document distributed by the China Emissions Exchange at aconference on Friday, and seen by Reuters, listed a number offoreign companies that are in discussions to join the Shenzhenmarket, the smallest of China's seven pilots.
Four European-headquartered utilities - BP Energy Asia,Shell (China), Statkraft and Vattenfall - were among theapplicants, according to the document.
They were joined by four trading houses - UK-owned CarbonTrading Capital, Japan's Econos, U.S. company FreepointCommodities and Virtuse Group (Suisse).
Most of China's carbon markets have been plagued by poorliquidity since they opened, and several are trying to attractforeign companies, especially those with experience in Europe.
Last month, Shenzhen got government clearance to let dealsbe settled in foreign currencies. (Reporting by Kathy Chena and Stian Reklev)
