Iran Drops Dollar From Oil Deals: Report

Iran drops dollar from oil deals: report

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Iran_dr..._12082007.html

Published: Saturday December 8, 2007

Major crude producer Iran has completely stopped carrying out its oil transactions in dollars, Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said on Saturday, labelling the greenback an "unreliable" currency.

"At the moment selling oil in dollars has been completely halted, in line with the policy of selling crude in non-dollar currencies," Nozari was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

"The dollar is an unreliable currency, considering its devaluation and the oil exporters' losses," he added.

The world's fourth largest oil exporter, Iran has massively reduced its dependence on the dollar over the past year in the face of US pressures on its financial system.

The United States has successfully encouraged major European and Asian banks to cut their dealings with Iran in a bid to make the Islamic republic give way on its controversial nuclear programme.

Washington has also blacklisted major Iranian banks for alleged support of terrorism and seeking nuclear weapons, charges denied by Tehran.

Iran has reduced its assets in dollars held in foreign banks and urged OPEC to take collective action to price oil in other currencies such as the euro, instead of the US currency which is used across the world at present.

The fall of the dollar, which has weakened considerably against the euro and other currencies in the past 12 months, has affected the revenues of OPEC members because most of them price and sell their oil exports in the US currency.

Look out!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071208/tpl-uk-iran-oil-dollar-02bfc7e_1.html

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has completely stopped selling any of its oil for U.S. dollars, an Iranian news agency reported on Saturday, citing the oil minister of the world's fourth-largest crude producer.

The ISNA news agency did not give a direct quote from Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari. A senior oil official last month said "nearly all" of Iran's crude oil sales were now being paid for in non-U.S. currencies.

For nearly two years, OPEC's second biggest producer has been reducing its exposure to the dollar, saying the weak U.S. currency is eroding its purchasing power.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who often rails against the West, has called the U.S. currency a "worthless piece of paper."

Foes since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Tehran and Washington are also at odds over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme as well as over policy in Iraq.

"In line with the policy of selling crude oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, currently the sale of our country's oil in U.S. dollars has been completely eliminated," ISNA reported after talking with Nozari.

Nozari told ISNA: "In regards to the decrease in the dollar's value and the loss exporters of crude oil have endured from this trend, the dollar is no longer a reliable currency."

"This is why, at the meeting of the heads of states, Iran proposed to OPEC members that a currency (for oil exports) would be determined that would be reliable and would not cause any loss to exporter countries," he said.

At a November summit of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries heads of state, Iran suggested oil should be sold in a basket of currencies rather than dollars, but failed to win over other members except Venezuela.

Ahmadinejad and his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, are vocal critics of U.S. influence in the world.

Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, international affairs director of the state owned National Iranian Oil Company, last month told Reuters that most of Iran's oil export earnings were in euros, with some in yen.

Uh oh. There are two ways to get your war on with America: one, appear to threaten the hegemony of Israel in the Middle East; and two, fuck with the Western oil barons.

This was also in the news today:

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...edName=topNews

"Israel says Iran could have nuclear bomb by 2010"

Can you hear the dogs of war barking?

And there was this:

http://www.afp.com/english/news/stor....ffutnxfy.html

Iran, China finalise two billion dollar oil contract

09/12/2007 21h56

http://www.afp.com/english/news/stor...lt-245x163.jpgGholam Hossein Nozari (C) looks on as Hossein Noghrehkar Shirazi (2nd R) and Zhou Baixiu (2nd L) sign an oil contract
©AFP

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran and China's Sinopec on Sunday signed a two billion dollar contract to develop a major Iranian oil field, a crucial deal for the Iranian energy industry at a time of mounting international pressure.

The Iranian oil ministry and Sinopec inked the deal to pump oil from the Yadavaran onshore field in southwestern Iran, which was first agreed back in late 2004, at a ceremony in Tehran, an AFP correspondent reported.

"The initial estimation of cost of the project is about 2.0 billion dollars and the final cost of the project will be decided after the offering of the tenders," said Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari.

The field will be producing 185,000 barrels of oil a day within the next seven years, he added.

The signing came at a time when the United States has been pressuring European and Asian firms, including oil majors, to cut their business ties with Iran to exert pressure on the Islamic republic in the nuclear crisis.

"The signing shows that there is no lack of investment in Iran and we are solidifying our economic relations with China more," said Nozari.

"The second message is that if other countries are willing to invest in the big oil and gas fields of Iran they should not lose the opportunity," he added, in an apparent warning to any dithering Western firms.

The deal is one of the biggest foreign energy contracts ever signed by Iran, which holds the world's second-largest oil and gas reserves and is seeking development of its oil fields.

The contract was signed in Tehran by Zhou Baixiu, the head of Sinopec's international arm, and Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for international affairs Hossein Noghrehkar Shirazi.

The talks to finalise the contract had been long held up by disagreements on the terms of the Yadavaran deal, most notably involving the rate of return proposed by Sinopec.

http://www.afp.com/english/news/stor...lt-245x185.jpgGholam Hossein Nozari (C) looks on as Hossein Noghrehkar Shirazi (R) and Zhou Baixiu (L) shake hands
©AFP

Sinopec had originally asked for a 15 percent rate of return from its investment but Nozari said this had been finalised at 14.98 percent.

However he added that the period of reimbursement for Sinopec had been decreased from eight years in the initial agreement to four in the final contract.

"The development will be carried out in two phases," added Nozari.

"The first phase to produce 85,000 barrels per day will be carried out in four years and the second phase to produce another 100,000 bpd will be carried out in another 36 months."

"So in total, the field will produce 185,000 barrels a day."

The National Iranian Oil Company's (NIOC) director for exploration Mahmoud Mohades had earlier put the Yadavaran field's reserves at 18.3 billion barrels, estimating recoverable oil at 3.2 billion barrels.

The 2004 initial agreement also envisaged China's purchase of an annual 10 million tons of Iranian liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 25 years, beginning in 2009.

But Zhou indicated that this was not in the final contract and would be discussed at a later date.

"China is willing to buy LNG from Iran and we hope to talk about the LNG project later."

Sinopec is the sole main partner and investor in the field, although it will be employing sub-contractors, more than half of whom must be Iranian.

Iran and China have significant economic ties and Beijing is the second largest importer of Iranian goods after Japan.

China is a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council and has until now been reluctant to support fully a US-led drive to impose a third set of UN sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme.

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Can't sa I blame Iran. I was thinking of exchanging my currency for Canadian money. How would Iran choosing to do that affect our economy here?

I'm no expert, but here are a couple of places to start:

Monetary Hegemony
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monetary_hegemony

Petrodollar Warfare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrodollar_warfare