Maybe NOT!!!
Oil states say no talks on replacing dollar
Tue Oct 6, 2009 7:40am EDT
Gulf region to stay with dollar for oil: UAE central bank source
Saudi central bank: report on replacing dollar is wrong 4:14am EDT
No need to replace U.S. dollar for oil trade: Algeria 4:14am EDT
SNAP ANALYSIS: Ending dollar oil sales easy; pricing is hard 12:28am EDT
Russia: hasn't discussed changing dollar role in oil 4:14am EDT
By
Simon Rabinotvitch and
Wayne Cole
ISTANBUL/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Big oil producing nations denied a British newspaper report on Tuesday that Gulf Arab states were in secret talks with Russia, China, Japan and France to replace the U.S. dollar with a basket of currencies in trading oil.
The dollar eased in response to the report, which was written by The Independent's Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk and cited unidentified sources in Gulf Arab states and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong.
It said the proposal was for trade in crude oil to move over nine years to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen, the Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The report comes amid a wider debate on the role of the dollar as the world's reserve currency, which has come under question. For most of this decade, the United States has struggled to maintain the dollar's value.
But top officials of Saudia Arabia and Russia, speaking on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund meetings in Istanbul, denied there were such talks. The two countries are the world's largest and second-largest oil exporters.
Asked by reporters about the newspaper story, Saudi Arabia's central bank chief Muhammad al-Jasser said: "Absolutely incorrect." He repeated the same response when asked whether Saudi Arabia was in such talks. [more]
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59507620091006