Van Eck May Introduce Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF

Van Eck, the sixth-largest U.S. ETF issuer, has filed plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with plans for the Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF. No ticker or expense ratio were disclosed in the filing.The new ETF will track the Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas Index. To be eligible for the Index, stocks must have a market capitalization of greater than $150 million on a rebalancing date. Constituent stocks of the Index whose market capitalizations fall below $75 million as of any rebalancing date will no longer be eligible to remain in the index, according to the filing.Stocks must have at least a three-month daily trading volume of $1 million and have traded at least 250,000 shares per month for the past six months. With “unconventional” in the title, it appears the new Market Vectors offering, if it comes to market, could be the first pure play shale ETF. Exploration and production companies along with refiners of shale oil and gas are included in the index.Market Vectors currently does not have an ETF devoted exclusively to the oil industry, but the Oil Services HOLDRs (AMEX: OIH) will become part of the Van Eck family perhaps as early as the fourth quarter.Van Eck had 36 ETFs with $25.5 billion in assets under management at the end of August, according to data from the National Stock Exchange.