Commentary: DailyKos on the Iranian Bourse, Oil, Euro and Dollars

Commentary

Back in January, StrategyUnit posted the article “Iran Crisis: Another War for Oil, Bourse and the US Dollar?” on the scheduled March opening of Iranian oil exchange (bourse), which is based on euros rather than US dollars:

This has fueled (no pun intended) speculation of the real cause of the Iranian crisis. The Iraq War has been criticized as a “War for Oil”. And now, as a second act, there are folks from Daily Kos to Asia Times saying the same of the Iran Crisis. The most aggressive promoter of this view appears to be from Krassimir Petrov.

Indeed, DailyKos writters has also been furthering the Iranian Bourse conspiracy:

“Of course most of the saber-rattling is over Iran’s nuclear program and the word “bourse” is never mentioned. But the IAEA has consistently stated that Iran is in full compliance with its regulations and the conditions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That doesn’t negate Iran’s political alignment and support for terrorism, but their nuclear energy program is hardly the threat it’s made out to be.

Only time will tell whether regime change is in the cards for Iran, especially at the hands of the United States. But the Fed’s quiet decision to no longer print the M3 is definitely quite ominous.”

Yet, interestingly recently (Feb 24) a writter on DailyKos, Jerome a Paris, writes to counter the other DailyKos writters:

“Crazy scenarios involving Iran’s purported attempts to create an oil bourse to start selling oil in euros make the rounds regularly, and even get recommended with alacrity on DKos.

These things WILL NOT HAPPEN, and we have, as a supposedly reality-based community, to focus on real issues and not imaginary ones.

So let me explain why an Iranian oil bourse will not work for the foreseeable future. I hope that this diary can be used as a handy reference when this crops up again in the future.

So, say that Iran decides to sell its oil in euros. Fine. Both the Iranians and their clients will determine the price for the transaction in dollars, on one of the established markets, and will trade these dollars for euros for the actual payment operation. It will give banks active on the forex markets a little bit of income, but will change nothing to how oil is traded.

So please, let’s stop the fantaisies, or the conspiracy theories about a switch to euros or a new bourse. If any transaction, whether by Saddam, the Iranians or anyone else is expressed in euros, it is purely cosmetic. The underlying market is in dollars, and will remain that way.

We are badly undermining the credibility of the site by recommending silly scaremongering stories on that topic.”

Indeed. Read the whole thing here.

Congrats to Jerome a Paris and DailyKos for keeping the balance.


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2 responses to “Commentary: DailyKos on the Iranian Bourse, Oil, Euro and Dollars”

  1. Jim

    From here, “In his annual State of the Nation address to both houses of parliament on 10 May 2006, Novosti reports President Putin said that work on making the Rouble an internationally convertible currency would be completed by 1 July 2006, six months ahead of schedule. To promote the currency, he announced that an oil and gas stock exchange will be created in Russia, that would trade in Roubles.

    And there is also this report from the BBC:
    Venezuela ‘may swap oil currency’ .

    Something has got to give – the US cannot go on militarily bullying the rest of the world.

    President Chavez has big plans for Venezuela’s oil industry
    Venezuela has hinted it could price its oil exports in euros rather than US dollars, further weakening its links to the US.
    President Hugo Chavez said he was considering taking the step following a similar declaration by Iran.

  2. Robert Haenggi

    I’ve read Jerome Paris’ case against the possible formation of an Iranian oil bourse. I agree that Iran faces many imposing challenges. I’m puzzled by one statement, and wonder if someone could clarify:

    Given that oil will still have its market price determined in dollars. OK, I understand.

    But why is it assumed that actual dollars will be converted to Euros? Couldn’t I bypass the $USD if I were a Mexican buyer converting Pesos to Euros?

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