Qtec
08-21-2006, 08:56 AM
In 2000 Saddam switched from selling Iraqi oil in $ to the Euro. Did you know that the US , after the invasion switched it back to the dollar- at a loss for the Iraqis!
It all started when..................
[ QUOTE ]
U.N. to let Iraq sell oil for euros, not dollars <hr /></blockquote>
http://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/10/30/iraq.un.euro.reut/
Dollar fiat money
The crucial shift took place when Nixon took the dollar off a fixed gold reserve to float against other currencies. This removed the restraints on printing new dollars. The limit was only how many dollars the rest of the world would take. By their firm agreement with Saudi Arabia, as the largest OPEC oil producer with a swing role. Washington guaranteed that the world's largestcommodity, namely oil, could be purchased on world markets only in dollars. Oil was essential for every nation's economy, being the basis of all transport and much of the industry.
The deal had been fixed in June 1974 by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, when he established the US-Saudi Arabian Joint Commission on Economic Co-operation. In effect, the US Treasury and New York Federal Reserve “allowed” the Saudi central bank, SAMA, to buy US Treasury bonds with Saudi petrodollars. In 1975, OPEC officially agreed to sell its oil only for dollars. A secret US military agreement to arm Saudi Arabia was the quid pro quo.
Until November 2000, no OPEC country dared violate the dollar price rule. They had little reason to do so as long as the dollar was the strongest currency. But on that date, French and other Euroland members finally convinced Saddam Hussein to defy the United States by selling Iraq's oil-for-food not in dollars, “the enemy currency” as Iraq named it, but only in euros. The euros were on deposit in a special UN account of the leading French bank, BNP Paribas. Radio Liberty of the US State Department ran a short wire on the news but the story was quickly hushed up.[2] This little-noted Iraq move to defy the dollar in favour of the EUR, was in itself insignificant. Yet, if it were to spread, especially at a point the dollar was already weakening, it would have created a panic sale of dollars by foreign central banks and OPEC oil producers.
In the months before the latest Iraq war, hints in this direction were heard from Russia, Iran, Indonesia and even Venezuela. An Iranian OPEC official, Javad Yarjani, delivered a detailed analysis of how OPEC at some future point might sell its oil to the EU for euros not dollars. He spoke in April, 2002 in Oviedo Spain at the invitation of the EU. All indications are that the Iraq war was seized on as the easiest way to deliver a deadly pre-emptive warning to OPEC and others, not to flirt with abandoning the petro-dollar system in favour of one based on the EUR.
Informed banking circles in the City of London and elsewhere in Europe privately confirm the significance of that little-noted Iraq move from petro-dollar to petro-EUR.
“The Iraq move was a declaration of war against the dollar,” one senior London banker told me recently.<hr /></blockquote>
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/ntm42655.htm
Iraq returns to international oil market
By Carola Hoyos and Kevin Morrison in London
Published: June 5 2003 20:02 | Last Updated: June 5 2003 20:02
Iraq on Thursday stepped back into the international oil market for the first time since the war, offering 10m barrels of oil from its storage tanks for sale to the highest bidder.
For some international companies it will be the first time in more than a year that they will do business directly with Iraq. Companies such as ExxonMobil of the US, shied away from directly buying Iraqi oil under the UN's oil-for-food programme as Washington stepped up its rhetoric against the Saddam Hussein regime.
But Iraq has some major obstacles to overcome - most notably the lack of security - before its oil exports can again flow on a sustained basis.
Mohammed al-Jibouri, head of Iraq's oil marketing, acknowledged the tender was a one-off sale. Even so, the sale of 8m barrels of Kirkuk crude oil from Iraq's storage tanks at the Turkish port of Ceyhan and 2m barrels of Basrah Light from the tanks in Mina al-Bakr on the Gulf is an important step - and not only because it is expected to generate more than $250m.
Emptying the tanks will allow Iraq to restore some crude oil flow through its pipelines towards the ports. But how much oil will be available will depend on Iraq's ability to get engineers - many of whom fear being kidnapped, robbed or having their cars stolen on the way to the fields - back to work.
In the meantime looters have damaged offices in Basra and numerous oil installations around the country.
The tender, for which bids are due by June 10, switches the transaction back to dollars - the international currency of oil sales - despite the greenback's recent fall in value. Saddam Hussein in 2000 insisted Iraq's oil be sold for euros, a political move, but one that improved Iraq's recent earnings thanks to the rise in the value of the euro against the dollar.
<font color="blue"> The US changed the oil sales back to dollar EVEN though it made no economical sense!
</font color>
http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/Web%20Pages/FINANCIAL%20TIMES_Iraq%20returns%20to%20internatio nal%20oil%20market.htm
Can anyone tell me how this was in the best interests of the Iraqi people?
Q..
It all started when..................
[ QUOTE ]
U.N. to let Iraq sell oil for euros, not dollars <hr /></blockquote>
http://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/10/30/iraq.un.euro.reut/
Dollar fiat money
The crucial shift took place when Nixon took the dollar off a fixed gold reserve to float against other currencies. This removed the restraints on printing new dollars. The limit was only how many dollars the rest of the world would take. By their firm agreement with Saudi Arabia, as the largest OPEC oil producer with a swing role. Washington guaranteed that the world's largestcommodity, namely oil, could be purchased on world markets only in dollars. Oil was essential for every nation's economy, being the basis of all transport and much of the industry.
The deal had been fixed in June 1974 by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, when he established the US-Saudi Arabian Joint Commission on Economic Co-operation. In effect, the US Treasury and New York Federal Reserve “allowed” the Saudi central bank, SAMA, to buy US Treasury bonds with Saudi petrodollars. In 1975, OPEC officially agreed to sell its oil only for dollars. A secret US military agreement to arm Saudi Arabia was the quid pro quo.
Until November 2000, no OPEC country dared violate the dollar price rule. They had little reason to do so as long as the dollar was the strongest currency. But on that date, French and other Euroland members finally convinced Saddam Hussein to defy the United States by selling Iraq's oil-for-food not in dollars, “the enemy currency” as Iraq named it, but only in euros. The euros were on deposit in a special UN account of the leading French bank, BNP Paribas. Radio Liberty of the US State Department ran a short wire on the news but the story was quickly hushed up.[2] This little-noted Iraq move to defy the dollar in favour of the EUR, was in itself insignificant. Yet, if it were to spread, especially at a point the dollar was already weakening, it would have created a panic sale of dollars by foreign central banks and OPEC oil producers.
In the months before the latest Iraq war, hints in this direction were heard from Russia, Iran, Indonesia and even Venezuela. An Iranian OPEC official, Javad Yarjani, delivered a detailed analysis of how OPEC at some future point might sell its oil to the EU for euros not dollars. He spoke in April, 2002 in Oviedo Spain at the invitation of the EU. All indications are that the Iraq war was seized on as the easiest way to deliver a deadly pre-emptive warning to OPEC and others, not to flirt with abandoning the petro-dollar system in favour of one based on the EUR.
Informed banking circles in the City of London and elsewhere in Europe privately confirm the significance of that little-noted Iraq move from petro-dollar to petro-EUR.
“The Iraq move was a declaration of war against the dollar,” one senior London banker told me recently.<hr /></blockquote>
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/ntm42655.htm
Iraq returns to international oil market
By Carola Hoyos and Kevin Morrison in London
Published: June 5 2003 20:02 | Last Updated: June 5 2003 20:02
Iraq on Thursday stepped back into the international oil market for the first time since the war, offering 10m barrels of oil from its storage tanks for sale to the highest bidder.
For some international companies it will be the first time in more than a year that they will do business directly with Iraq. Companies such as ExxonMobil of the US, shied away from directly buying Iraqi oil under the UN's oil-for-food programme as Washington stepped up its rhetoric against the Saddam Hussein regime.
But Iraq has some major obstacles to overcome - most notably the lack of security - before its oil exports can again flow on a sustained basis.
Mohammed al-Jibouri, head of Iraq's oil marketing, acknowledged the tender was a one-off sale. Even so, the sale of 8m barrels of Kirkuk crude oil from Iraq's storage tanks at the Turkish port of Ceyhan and 2m barrels of Basrah Light from the tanks in Mina al-Bakr on the Gulf is an important step - and not only because it is expected to generate more than $250m.
Emptying the tanks will allow Iraq to restore some crude oil flow through its pipelines towards the ports. But how much oil will be available will depend on Iraq's ability to get engineers - many of whom fear being kidnapped, robbed or having their cars stolen on the way to the fields - back to work.
In the meantime looters have damaged offices in Basra and numerous oil installations around the country.
The tender, for which bids are due by June 10, switches the transaction back to dollars - the international currency of oil sales - despite the greenback's recent fall in value. Saddam Hussein in 2000 insisted Iraq's oil be sold for euros, a political move, but one that improved Iraq's recent earnings thanks to the rise in the value of the euro against the dollar.
<font color="blue"> The US changed the oil sales back to dollar EVEN though it made no economical sense!
</font color>
http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/Web%20Pages/FINANCIAL%20TIMES_Iraq%20returns%20to%20internatio nal%20oil%20market.htm
Can anyone tell me how this was in the best interests of the Iraqi people?
Q..