Iran Freezes Trading Oil In US Dollars
So … You’re watching this horror movie … a thriller, to be sure.
And you see what the good guy/gal has to do so as NOT to become the ‘dead victim’ …
And you creep to the edge of your seat and start yelling at the screen …
Start.
Real.
SOON!
Iran, Opec’s second-largest producer, has completely stopped conducting oil transactions in US dollars, a top oil ministry official said yesterday, a concerted attempt to reduce reliance on Washington at a time of tension over Tehran’s nuclear programme and suspected involvement in Iraq.
Iran has dramatically reduced dependence on the dollar over the past year in the face of increasing US pressure on its financial system and the fall in the value of the American currency.
Oil is priced in US dollars on the world market, and the currency’s depreciation has concerned producers because it has contributed to rising crude prices and eroded the value of their dollar reserves.
“The dollar has totally been removed from Iran’s oil transactions,” oil ministry official Hojjatollah Ghanimifard told state-run television yesterday. “We have agreed with all of our crude oil customers to do our transactions in non-dollar currencies,” he said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the depreciating dollar a “worthless piece of paper” at a rare summit last year in Saudi Arabia attended by state leaders from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).
Tehran put pressure on other Opec countries at the meeting to price oil in a basket of currencies, but it has not been able to generate support from fellow members – many of whom, including Saudi Arabia, are staunch US allies.
Iran has a tense relationship with the US, which has accused Tehran of using its nuclear programme as a cover for weapons development and providing support to militants in Iraq that are killing US troops. Iran has denied the allegations.
Iranian oil officials have said previously that they were shifting oil sales out of the dollar into other currencies, but Ghanimifard indicated yesterday that all of Iran’s oil transactions were now conducted in either euros or yen.
“In Europe, Iran’s oil is sold in euros, but both euros and yen are paid for Iranian crude in Asia,” said the oil ministry official.
Iran’s central bank has also been reducing its foreign reserves denominated in dollars, motivated by the falling value of the greenback and US attempts to make it difficult for Iran to conduct dollar transactions.
US banks are prohibited from conducting business directly with Iran, and many European banks have curbed their dealings with the country over the past year under pressure from Washington.
However, the United States has been wary of targeting Iran’s oil industry directly, apparently worried that such a move could drive up crude prices that are already at record levels.
(AP)
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Yes. Because clearly the answer is to deplete our oil reserves even faster.
Nothing else will work.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:22 pmTake a long W-A-L-K.
Clearly you have zero business savvy, and are incapable of working mathematically outside your imagined visions of future generations living in caves …
May 1st, 2008 at 3:35 pmAnother move by Iran which will create economic instability
May 1st, 2008 at 3:38 pmin The USA. How long are we going to take this bullshit from
that little rat bastard
Right. I clearly have zero business savvy because I have the nerve to point out the patently obvious fact that depleting our resources is a bad long term idea.
Speaking of math, the US uses 25% of oil produced. The US holds 2% of reserves remaining. Do the math now, before the numbers get nastier.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:39 pmThis bastard can do these things because he knows any interruption in our oil use will send us reeling. If we had an economy that was not so oil dependent, he’d think twice.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:40 pmYOU are also quite incapable of carrying on YOUR side of this debate without benefit of human shields in the form of “the children” …
You are usually, and quite often, outnumbered by people whose views are rooted in facts and logic and reason …
Whereas yours are rooted in emotion.
See, just see if you can have your side of this debate without
1) using the words children, kids, young`ins, or future generations (or any word that denotes ‘the young’ of the species)
2) or dragging out ‘depleting our own oil reserves’ … which are YET to be even mapped out to tap into.
3) listing for what is “the REAL world” of our society YOUR master plan to get us oil free from the terrorists, and remain afloat on billions of barrels of our own untapped reserves.
Everyone here would love to be free of oil … foreign or domestic … BUT the reality of the situation is we are years away from that.
So, tomorrow morning you will not find this massive stoppage in work and empty highways just to suit YOUR myopic view of how to handle this current situation … which IS purely market and politically driven … and NOT a shortage of oil under the ground.
Damn it I am well done with this one …
He’s all yours.
I’m getting a
.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:01 pmWell if you’re worried about our society being so oil dependent quit voting for democrats who’s “green” policy makes it impossible for us to reduce our dependence on foreign oil because nothing is 100% to their satisfaction.
Funny how many of the politicians pushing the green agenda take campaign contributions from the Chi-Comms. It’s like flouride in the drinking water I tells ya…
May 1st, 2008 at 4:52 pmI don’t see how this will do anything but hurt Iran in the long run — and much more than it will hurt us.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:00 pmOmri
There’s a 400 year supply of this precious resource including oil shale. Instead of flaming a retarded lie, do your research and do not try and stir a libtard agenda on the real thinkers.
There is a solution to the issues at hand and WE shouldn’t be allowing extremists to dictate to the majority a failed solution by using our food resources. Or should we go ahead and deplete that resource? Yeah, oil drives our economy, and you use it daily whether you realize it or not. So why do leftists politicians force us to use foreign oil?? It ain’t the Republicans, all the ones I know and follow would rather we go to the shelf, and Anwr. Uhh buddy, you want to take a stab at that one ehh. Not to mention the profits from foreign oil are funding terrorists. You can bet your ass on that one, who exactly is the Party of Surrender fucking ass bag. Keep our money right here, especially now.
She’s right, you got no business savvy
Did you miss the keyword in your little statement Omri?
The numbers are only as nasty (deceptive) as the language used to communicate them buddy.
We’ve got to rid the Nation of ignorance.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:21 pmNow that rate cuts from the Fed seem to be over for at least a while, I expect that the USD will rebound some. Oil prices will moderate and the Iranians will have timed their trade poorly. As long as the value of the oil in the ground is rising faster than an investment in good securities, it makes sense for the producers to leave it in the ground to go up in value.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:24 pmWhen interest rates and investment returns start getting back to historical norms we will see a lot of countries suddenly “discovering” that they have a lot of capacity they had overlooked.
“Iran has denied the allegations.” Fuck you AP! Idiotic bastards, always add that doncha?
May 1st, 2008 at 5:30 pmShell boss John Hofmeister agrees.
(and owns a blow dried CNN jerkoff)
Shell Oil president: To cut price, produce more gasoline in U.S.
Gotta think outside the moonbat box, Omri.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:28 pmOk I was going to say something but I think drillanwr and Specter covered it quite well.
It amazes me how many people still believe every thing they are spoon fed by the MSM.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:45 pmunbeknown to most people, The US is the world’s third largest oil producer
May 1st, 2008 at 8:07 pmeven with all of this played out in fount of us, you must admit this can be viewed as another provoking stab from Iran
May 1st, 2008 at 8:58 pmYa know, sometimes ya wanna keep quiet about what you know, heheheh. Just don’t count out a country, the only country, to ever send men to the moon and to do it when nobody had even heard of the internet or a home computer. Suck the dust muzzie and commie lovers.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:23 amIf you refuse red meat to a ravenous lion, he just may eat you instead…
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:20 am” Iranians will have timed their trade poorly.”
When a currency gets weak, it then gains more value, the Iranians will have timed their trade poorly. Time to get some Junior mints and pop corn and watch the fireworks!!
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:51 am