Authored by Derek Andersen via CoinTelegraph.com,

The transaction was a response to a call by the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government to apply the Chinese central bank digital currency (CBDC), also referred to as the e-CNY, to international trade, the exchange said. It is "another major step forward" for the digital yuan, according to the state-controlled China Daily.

The seller and the price in the transaction were not disclosed. For comparison, the price of the "OPEC basket" of oil from 13 producers was $95.72 per barrel on Oct. 19.

The crude oil deal also marks an overall major step in the use of the yuan on the international market and in the global movement toward de-dollarization. In the first three quarters of 2023, the use of the yuan in cross-border settlements was up 35% year-on-year, reaching $1.39 trillion, China Daily reported.