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First a little background on the Iranian Oil Bourse, from wikipedia:
The Iranian Oil Bourse is a commodity exchange which opened on February 17, 2008. It was created by cooperation between Iranian ministries and other state and private institutions. The IOB is a Petrobourse for petroleum, petrochemicals and gas in various non-dollar currencies, primarily the Euro and Iranian rial and a basket of other major currencies. The geographical location is at the Persian Gulf island of Kish which is designated by Iran as a free trade zone.
So in short, the IOB is a marketplace for buying and selling petroleum. In the past, this has been an exclusive market of the US dollar, a deal that was brokered with Saudia Arabia in 1971 when the US was no longer able to back its dollar with gold. It is said that this oil-backed-dollar is one of the pillars holding up the American economy, the second pillar being its military supremacy.
There have been some talking points floating around lately about the impact of the IOB, especially since Iran has been asking customers to pay in currencies other than the USD. If others (notably Saudi Arabia) follow suite, this would have a major impact on the American economy as countries would no longer be required to purchase and stockpile US dollars to secure their oil supply.
Some analysts have theorized that it was a similar move by Iraq in 2003 that was the “last straw” which prompted the invasion. This may or may not be plausible, but it can be noted that the coalition forces did revert Iraq’s oil income back to the USD shortly after taking power, and that the original premises for the war — WMD, I’m looking at (for) you — were obviously false.
One thing I found interesting: Remember all of those undsea cable cuts from earlier this year? That just happened to coincide with launch of the IOB. Tinfoil hat territory? I don’t know. Given what we have seen from this administration, and what they are willing to do to protect the American empire, I wouldn’t be too shocked if there was a connection.
I’m very curious to see what is going to happen with this over the next few months, if Saudi Arabia jumps on board, and what kind of impact it will have.
Posted by Aaron on May 2, 2008, 1:51 pm permalink top | general
I had no idea all of this was going on! Every time I go to CNN for news, they’re talking about the upcoming election or Tori Spellings reality TV show… yes she’s has one too
I think this’ll be the place I get my news from, from now on.
That’s because the major news networks in the US are owned by entertainment companies. Their priority is ratings-based profits, not informing the public.
So where is this oil bourse? What’s its internet address? All I can find are articles about it, but not its own website.
The bourse itself is on the island of Kish in the Persian Gulf. Iran designated the area as a Free Trade zone. For now the bourse is only trading in oil-derived products, though they plan to open the market to crude oil in the near future.
I don’t know if there is an official site or not, though I imagine it would be a “members only” type of deal.