First Iran, now Venezuela...who will be next?

Euric · Intermediate Crude Joined: Dec 04, 2004 Posts: 635

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060516/britain_chavez_oil.html?.v=1

AP
Chavez May Price Oil Exports in Euros
Tuesday 2006-05-16 19:09 ET
Venezuela President Says He May Support Iran's Plan to Ditch Dollar, Price Oil Exports in Euros

LONDON (AP) -- Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that he would consider pricing his country's oil in euros instead of dollars in line with a similar declaration made by Iran.

Earlier this month Iran's state television reported the country's Oil Ministry granted a license for its first euro-denominated market.

"That is an interesting proposal made by the president of Iran," Chavez told Britain's Channel 4 news. "We are free to choose too between the dollar and the euro."

If the market were to succeed -- or if Iran simply demanded payment for its oil in euros -- commodities experts said it could lead central bankers around the world to convert some dollar reserves into euros, possibly causing a decline in the dollar's value.

Oil is currently denominated in dollars around the globe, whether through direct sales between producers and consumers or in trades made on markets in New York and London, but Chavez said that he would be willing to seek an alternative.

"So what the president of Iran says is recognizing the power of Europe. They have succeeded in integrating and have a single currency competing with the dollar, and Venezuela might also consider that," said Chavez, president of the world's fifth largest oil exporter.

Iranian legislators earlier this year urged the government to set up the market to reduce the United States' influence over the Islamic republic's economy.

First floated in 2004 when reformist president Mohammad Khatami was in power, the idea of a euros-traded oil bourse gained new life after the stridently nationalist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president last summer.

magician

yeah this is gonna be interesting. interesting if this is a bluff or show of economic capability. interesting if they do it straight out. either way between the two, russia's economic uncertanty and putins remarks about an oil bourse in rubles and some scandanavian country's mumblings about euro bourses, this crap is going to get freaky. like top 5 nightmare scenarios to the FED, freaky.

--magician

Chicken_Little

miraculix · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 11, 2006 Posts: 143

Current events pursuade me that we are definitively in the middle of WWIII.

There is no country or group of nations that can challenge the US singly or collectively with their own military. So they use the only weaponry in their arsenal that can sting the empire - economics.

Brazil has just won a battle at the WTO - declaring US farm subsidies illegal for instance. The dwarfs are rotting together to topple the giant.

I get the feeling that Bush administration is getting what it has asked for.

They are bringing it on - little by little the bees are busy gnawing on the foundation of the empire.

In my humble opinion WWIII began on 9-11 with Bush's statement:"You are either with us or against us"
That was not just populist speak, it was a declaration of war - a war carried out on many fronts - a full spectrum war over full spectrum dominance.

All these draconian laws are put into place to prepare the respective governments for the time of intensified conflict.

A subdued populus is moaning about gas prices and mortgage payments, entirely oblivious to the ogre perchance at their threshold.

Andrew_S · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jan 09, 2005 Posts: 683

Colorado-Valley · Intermediate Crude Joined: Aug 16, 2004 Posts: 733

This will be called the Resource War.

Americans missed the beginning because they thought it was about the war on terrorism.

Someone might have misinformidated them ...

perdition79

Battle_Scarred_Galactico · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 07, 2005 Posts: 970

A nuclear war would be less damaging to America!

A bit over the top, but you're point is 100% correct. I believe the US will be put in a position eventually where they will have nothing to lose, then we really could have some serious trouble.

the U.S. will become another Zimbabwe

Except for the minor difference of the most destructive arsenal the world will ever see. Not very good ingredients.
_________________
"One minute I held the key, next the walls were closed on me, and I discovered that my castle stands upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand."

whereagles

Petronon-dollars make exports into the huge US economy more difficult. Not sure if you wanna do that.

miraculix · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 11, 2006 Posts: 143

actually, if you take the 3 billion+ customer base in Asia and Latin America, one finds that they can make up for a loss of 280 million customers in the US.
Even if you'd average out the lower purchasing power of each customer you find that you only need 10-15 customers from Asia and LA to make up for one US customer.

ohanian · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Oct 17, 2004 Posts: 1143

First Iran, now Venezuela.
Who is next?

max_power29

Russia, then china, then everybody else all at once. eventually even the united States will abandon the dollar.

timbo

China and India are not ready yet but once they have finished building their own internal/local-area markets then the USA and the US dollar become surplus to requirements. That's when the fun really starts.

Providing PO doesn't hit first my guess 2008-2009, no particular basis just a guess.

Euric · Intermediate Crude Joined: Dec 04, 2004 Posts: 635

http://www.upi.com/Energy/view.php?StoryID=20060515-062946-1590r

Energy

Iran to require oil payments in euros

TEHRAN, May 15 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Friday that in July Iran will abandon dollar payments for its oil and natural gas exports in favor of euros.

The move comes amid a standoff between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear fuel enrichment program. The Bush administration insists the program is cover for a nuclear weapons program, a charge that Iran denies.

All current international oil transactions on the New York Mercantile Exchange and London's International Petroleum Exchange are priced in dollars.

Middleeastforex.com reported May 13 that Ahmadinejad announced the change Friday during a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan.

Many political observers see the decision as an attempt to pressure Washington, which is attempting to line up other U.N. Security Council members to act against Iran for its nuclear policies.

Iran has also proposed establishing a euro-based Iranian oil bourse to compete with NYMEX and the IPE. The proposal was first put forward in the beginning of the Third Development Plan (2000-2005), and began to receive serious attention in 2005.

Some observers speculate that the Iranian switch to euros could negatively affect the dollar, as many central banks from oil importing nations could choose to stock up their currency reserves with euros rather than dollars.

peripato · Heavy Crude Joined: May 03, 2005 Posts: 397