Breaking: Venezuela, Russia and Iran on the US Dollar and Oil

Chavez backs dropping U.S. dollar for oil trade

 

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday that countries including Venezuela, Russia and Iran had proposed the U.S. dollar should be replaced as the currency used for the oil trade.

 

"We've been talking about this in OPEC. Venezuela agrees and there are other countries, such as Iran and Russia that have also proposed this idea," Chavez told reporters in the central Bolivian region of Cochabamba, where he was attending a summit of leftist Latin American presidents.

 

A debate about the issue of replacing the dollar with a basket of currencies in an attempt to stabilize revenues has been widely discussed since a report in the Independent newspaper this month said Gulf states were considering the change.

 

Reuters, Oct 17, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN1731520620091017

 

I don't care if I follow your rules, if you can cheat, so can I

 

 I won't let you beat me unfairly, I'll beat you unfairly first

 

Ender Wiggin

Fictional Military Strategist

 

Russia ready to abandon dollar in oil, gas trade with China

 

Russia is ready to consider using the Russian and Chinese national currencies instead of the dollar in bilateral oil and gas dealings, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

 

"Yesterday, energy companies, in particular Gazprom, raised the question of using the national currency. We are ready to examine the possibility of selling energy resources for rubles, but our Chinese partners need rubles for that. We are also ready to sell for yuans," Putin said.

 

…The Russian prime minister said the issue would be addressed among others at a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) finance ministers, who are to convene before the end of the year in Kazakhstan.

 

Britain's Independent newspaper reported last Tuesday that Russian officials had held "secret meetings" with Arab states, China and France on ending the use of the U.S. dollar in international oil trade.

 

The countries are reportedly seeking to switch from the dollar to a basket of currencies including the euro, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, gold, and a new unified currency of leading Arab oil producing countries.

 

The Independent said the meetings have been confirmed by Chinese and Arab banking sources.

 

RIA Novosti, October 14, 2009

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20091014/156468599.html

 

There should be a credible and good currency

 to take over the US dollar's role and to serve oil trades

 

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iran to drop dollar from forex reserves

 

TEHRAN -- The Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI) announced this week that it plans to exclude the U.S. dollar from Iran’s foreign exchange reserves.

 

In line with this plan, Iran has informed Japan that it should use the yen instead of dollars to pay for the oil it buys from the Islamic Republic.

 

In addition, Iran has decided to open a bourse for oil and gas transactions in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, especially the euro.

 

Tehran Times Economic Desk, October 14, 2009

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=205640

 

If one day the world's largest oil producers

 demanded euros for their barrels

it would be the financial equivalent of a nuclear strike

 

Bill O'Grady