Iran opens first oil exchange

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

TEHRAN, Feb 17, 2008 (AFP) - Iran on Sunday inaugurated its first stock exchange for oil products and petrochemicals, in a bid to become a major player in the global downstream industry.

OPEC's number two crude oil producer hopes that its oil exchange can lead the way for a domestic downstream industry to match its upstream crude oil production, the country's main foreign currency revenue winner.

"We have been a good seller (of crude oil) and now we have a higher objective to have a share in the oil trade," Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari told reporters.

Iran claims to rank second in the region after Saudi Arabia in terms of production of petrochemicals at 22 million tons a year.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080217/bs_afp/iranstockseconomyoil_080217122603

[ozymandius]

1. Dollar hegemony says this plan is pure "(axis of) evil".

The idea of establishing a market for oil and its by-products was first mooted a decade ago, and practical steps to prepare its creation were first taken in 2001.

The timing sure is right for the infamous Bush "axis of..." SoTU address.

[Karenina]

2. Fasten your seatbelt! Want some?

:popcorn:

[bluesmail]

5. especially if they go to EUROs

now that's pickin a fight, eh Cheney?

[ozymandius]

7. Cheney will declare that WMDs are hidden in the new Iranian oil bourse's basement.

and we all know what that means....

As Smedley Butler said: "Where the dollar goes, the flag goes. And the troops follow the flag."

[Arctic Dave]

8. Thanks, needs more butter n/t

:popcorn:

[freedomnorth]

3. Are they still planning to use Euro as exchange currency?

There was no information about it in this news bit.

I didnt know Ahmanidejad thinks free market is good...
:sarcasm:

[kineneb]

4. Islam does not forbid commerce

There are no prohibitions on commerce, just usury (interest). Mohammed was a merchant, if I remember the history correctly.

from my English translation of the Koran (2:275):
"Those that live on usury shall rise up before Allah like men whom Satan has demented by his touch; for they claim that usury is trading. But Allah has permitted trading and forbidden usury."

[Recursion]

9. Muhammed was in import/export

And his first wife was his boss. Go figure...

[Ghost Dog]

6. Euros, Yen, Yuan, whatever; but not USD since the US was freezing Iranian accounts

and Iran shifted its 'sovereign' accounts into other currencies. Iran has for a while now been selling all its oil and gas products in currencies other than USD.