Sputnik news agency & radio Month 16 reported that Venezuelan President Maduro announced that Venezuela had officially started to use RMB instead of US dollars to price oil, ordered the national oil traders to stop accepting payment in US dollars, and abolished the US dollar settlement in crude oil trade. This was tantamount to declaring war on the US dollar and the US economy, and also fired the first shot for the "PetroRMB" counterattack.

The draft design of domestic crude oil futures contract surfaced. Crude oil futures will be denominated in RMB, traded at net price and delivered in bonded mode. Participants include domestic and foreign traders. In crude oil futures trading, RMB will be fully convertible.