Iran to take control of world's oil trade in 2005

[LuCifer]

Let there be no further wonder why Bush, Condi, and co., have such a raging hard-on to invade Iran.

WE NEED TO START CALLING THESE PEOPLE WHAT THEY REALLY ARE:

FASCISTS.
THEIVES.
LIARS.
CRETINS.

No if's, and's, or butt's! They call us "communists" when we ARE NOT. They call us this and that, and that's NOT going to fly. If we don't start now, WHEN?

Do you want your kids to grow up in a world that doesn't have solar power, wind power, etc?! Folks, it's 2005, and we are STILL addicted to OIL and GAS. This MUST STOP...NOW!

¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~¿Þ~

"The Insider" mailing list article, 19 June 2004.

*** In 2005 Iran will launch a new oil exchange that is expected to put an end to Western domination of the international oil trade. The US and UK, currently home to the world's largest oil markets, are unlikely to allow Iran to undermine their control of the oil trade without putting up a fight. ***

Iran is to launch an oil trading market for Middle East and Opec producers that could threaten the supremacy of London's International Petroleum Exchange.

A contract to design and establish a new platform for crude, natural gas and petrochemical trades is expected to be signed with an international consortium within days.

Top oil producing countries are determined to seize more control of trading after being advised that existing markets such as the IPE and Nymex in New York are not working in their favour.

Three years ago a former compliance director accused the IPE of manipulating prices, although these allegations were dismissed after an investigation.

The Tehran oil bourse is scheduled to open in 2005, according to its architect, Mohammad Javad Asemipour, who is a personal adviser to the Iranian energy minister.

"We are in the final stage of choosing a concession for what is going to be a very big development for us and the region," he said.

The expected winner of the contract is a consortium of Iranian and international companies known as Wimpole, which is understood to include PA Consulting and a former director of Nymex.

Mr Asemipour has been in London in the last few weeks visiting commodity traders to encourage them to participate in his new venture.

He played down the dangers that the new exchange could eventually pose for the IPE or Nymex, saying he hoped they might be able to cooperate in some way.

Some industry experts have warned the Iranians and other Opec producers that western exchanges are controlled by big financial and oil corporations, which have a vested interest in market volatility.

The IPE, bought in 2001 by a consortium that includes BP, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, was unwilling to discuss the Iranian move yesterday. "We would not have any comment to make on it at this stage," said an IPE spokeswoman.

Many of the contracts for crude oil being exported from producers such as Iran and Saudi Arabia are linked to prices for the UK North Sea Brent blend.

The Middle East producers would like to establish a rival Persian Gulf blend contract alongside hedging mechanisms that could operate around the new bourse.

The regional initiative is significant but not entirely new. The Dubai Mercantile Exchange recently tried to develop an oil trading market with the help of Nymex but it collapsed through lack of interest.

The Tehran bourse is considered to be more likely to succeed because Iran exports 2.7m barrels a day and produces 13m tonnes of petrochemicals every year. The country has the second biggest oil reserves in the world behind Saudi Arabia.

But Adam Sieminski, oil analyst with Deutsche Bank in London, questioned whether it would succeed. "The IPE and Nymex work because there are many sellers and many buyers. They are regulated markets based on well-established systems for trading and I think the Iranians will struggle to duplicate that."

Mr Asemipour said the new project is in tune with both Islamic and local constitutional law and has been given the go-ahead by government and parliament as part of the country's five-year plan.

· The world is not short of oil and reserves should last 40 years at today's rates of consumption, according to BP chief executive John Browne.

There was "considerable scope" for proven reserves and production levels to keep on rising in Russia and elsewhere, he said in BP's statistical review of world energy.

Production in some areas such as the North Sea might have peaked but "this is no reason for current high prices," said BP chief economist Peter Davies. Oil prices during 2003 were the highest for 20 years despite world oil production growing by 3.8%, higher than the 2.1% increase in demand, BP noted.

SOURCE: The Guardian (UK), "Iran takes on west's control of oil trading", 16 June 2004.
< http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1239644,00.html >


FURTHER READING

BBC News, "Iran 'to charge British sailors'", 22 June 2004.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3828377.stm >
Iran is to prosecute eight UK sailors detained for illegally entering its territorial waters, state-run TV quotes military sources as saying.
Three British naval craft and crews were seized on Monday in the Shatt al-Arab waterway near the Iraqi border.
Al-Alam TV said the men had admitted entering Iranian territory, and were a kilometre across the marine border.
...
The television report said weapons and maps were confiscated from the men after they were apprehended.
...

Washington Times, "Iran massing troops on Iraq border", 15 June 2004.
< http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040615-055649-4707r.htm >
Beirut, Lebanon, Jun. 15 (UPI) -- Iran reportedly is readying troops to move into Iraq if U.S. troops pull out, leaving a security vacuum.
The Saudi daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat, monitored in Beirut, reports Iran has massed four battalions at the border.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat quoted "reliable Iraqi sources" as saying, "Iran moved part of its regular military forces towards the Iraqi border in the southern sector at a time its military intelligence agents were operating inside Iraqi territory."

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. Thanks again, Chimpy.

The noise you hear is the tumbrils...

[SnowGoose]

2. Most troubling line (to me)

Ok, lately the focus seems to have been on what would happen to the dollar if oil markets move to euros in a significant way. That's peanuts compared with this:

"The world is not short of oil and reserves should last 40 years at today's rates of consumption, according to BP chief executive John Browne."

Uhhh.... forty years? I'd like to still be alive by then (assuming the world doesn't end in 2012) - it's not really that far from now.

Plus, it's generally accepted that China and India's growing economies will consume more and more of the available oil.

If it's true that available reserves will be tapped out in 40 years, that is *huge* - and what it will do to the industrialized world is sobering. Look around you - what percentage of what you can see right now was manufactured and/or transported to its present location without the use of oil? I'd wager it's pretty close to zero.