THE Iranian Oil Bourse Thread pt 2 (merged)

[eXpat]

I'm enjoying my morning coffee with cookies too, and guess what?. The Iranian Bouse is open!!! link

Oil bourse opens in Iran's Kish Island
...
Speaking at the opening ceremony of Iran's oil and petrochemical bourse in Kish Island, Nozari pointed out that it was important for Iran to play a more active role in oil and petrochemical transactions in international markets.

"All major currencies of the world will be used in transactions in Iran's oil bourse," he added.
...
Referring to potential transactions in oil products through the oil bourse, the Oil Minister said, “Our annual petrochemical output currently stands at 20 million tons, which is expected to reach 23 million tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, with good prospects of increasing it to some 45 million tons by the end of next year.”

Iran's oil and petrochemical bourse officially started operation in Kish Island on the Persian Gulf following inauguration speeches given by Nozari and Iran's Minister of Financial an Economic Affair, Davoud Danesh Ja'fari.

[eXpat]

I posted this in another thread but i think that since we have been waiting for this for so long it deserves to be repeated,( since the other thread is in other forum and sometimes (at least to me) the View posts since last visit doesn't work so well).
Iranian Bourse opened today ! link

Oil bourse opens in Iran's Kish Island
Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:08:18


Iran's oil minister, Gholam-Hossein Nozari
Iran's oil bourse will pave the way for the country's more active presence in international crude transactions, oil minister says.

Although Iran's oil resources were discovered more than a hundred years ago, its oil sector has so far played only a minor role in international oil markets, IRNA reported Gholam-Hossein Nozari as saying.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of Iran's oil and petrochemical bourse in Kish Island, Nozari pointed out that it was important for Iran to play a more active role in oil and petrochemical transactions in international markets.

"All major currencies of the world will be used in transactions in Iran's oil bourse," he added.

He pointed out that Iran has produced a total of some 63 billion barrels of crude oil over past century.

He put the volume of natural gas produced in the same period at about 3 trillion cubic meters, noting that while part of it was being used for domestic consumption, a significant part is being converted into petrochemical products.

Referring to potential transactions in oil products through the oil bourse, the Oil Minister said, “Our annual petrochemical output currently stands at 20 million tons, which is expected to reach 23 million tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, with good prospects of increasing it to some 45 million tons by the end of next year.”

Iran's oil and petrochemical bourse officially started operation in Kish Island on the Persian Gulf following inauguration speeches given by Nozari and Iran's Minister of Financial an Economic Affair, Davoud Danesh Ja'fari.

[eXpat]

And from Irna.ir
link

The first phase of Iran's oil stock market started its work on Kish island in the Persian Gulf, southern Iran, on Sunday presenting oil and petrochemical products.

The stock market was inaugurated in a video conference ceremony from the capital Tehran attended by ministers of oil, finance and economic affairs as well as chairman of Iran's Stock Exchange and a number of other officials and financial experts.

The transactions will be made in Iranian rial.

The newly-inaugurated oil stock exchange is part of a two-phase project approved by Iranian cabinet.

Based on the approval, products of Iran's Oil Ministry should be traded through stock market in two forms which are the crude oil stock market and the oil and petrochemical products stock market.

[Petrodollar]

...Earlier this month (Feb 5th, 2008), the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), testified to Congress about the four broad categories that pose major national security threats to the US. (e.g., terrorism, nuclear proliferation, cyber-attacks and economic issues)



What I found interesting were his public warnings about the "threat" of oil-wealth in OPEC, Russia, along with "dollar depreciation" and the possability of oil producers "de-linking" to the dollar - all of which should be put in proper context with respect to the upcoming Iranian bourse. Here's an exerpt:

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/kuwaitne ... 00&ccid=11

Intel chief sees financial threat from … OPEC

WASHINGTON (Agencies): Russia, China and Opec oil-producing countries have a worrisome potential to use their growing financial clout to exert political pressure, the top US spy chief told Congress on Tuesday. US National Director of Intelligence Michael McConnell voiced the concern to Congress in his annual assessment of potential security threats to the United States. McConnell also told the Senate Intelligence Committee in prepared testimony that the global threat of terrorism remained, but that al-Qaeda had suffered setbacks and its international reputation was diminishing.

...here's the interesting public admission...

In listing top threats, McConnell cited “concerns about the financial capabilities of Russia, China and Opec countries and the potential use of their market access to exert financial leverage to political ends.” Russia was positioning itself to control an energy supply and transportation network spanning from Europe to East Asia, and China’s global engagement was driven by a need to access markets and resources, McConnell said. He voiced concerns about the impact of a weaker US dollar on global oil suppliers, some of whom have asked to be paid in currencies other than dollars, or delinked their currency pegs to the dollar. “Continued concerns about dollar depreciation could tempt other producers to follow suit,” McConnell said.

....of course the major threat that he left off the list was Peak Oil, but at least he is warning Congress and the public about the growing threat to petrodollar hegemony and the US dollar the world's reserve currency.

[eXpat]

The first phase of Iran's oil stock market, the bourse that was opened today, seems to be to trade petrochemical products in Rial and other currencies, according to The Herald Tribune. Second phase will be the opening of trade of Oil in euros.

Iran established its first oil products bourse Sunday in a free trade zone on the Persian Gulf Island of Kish, the country's oil ministry said.

A statement posted on the ministry's Web site said 100 tons of polyethylene consignment was traded at the market's opening on the island, which houses the offices of about 100 Iranian and foreign oil companies.

Oil and petrochemical products will be traded in Iranian Rials, as well as all other hard currencies, the statement quoted Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari as saying. About 20 brokers are already active in the market, it said.

"The bourse provides an economic opportunity for Iranians, other countries and foreign customers," Nozari was quoted as saying.

Iran produces more than 20 million tons of petrochemical products per year.

Iran has already registered for another oil bourse, in which it has said it hopes to trade oil in Euros instead of dollars, to reduce any American influence over the Islamic Republic's economy.

A bourse official, Mahdi Karbasian, told the IRNA official news agency that such an oil market would begin operating within the next year.

Seems that they one to establish a firm foundation for the Oil one...

[Cid_Yama]

Pictures from the inaguration of the Iran Oil Bourse.

http://www.payvand.com/news/08/feb/1161.html

[Cid_Yama]

A statement posted on the ministry's Web site said 100 tons of polyethylene consignment was traded at the market's opening on the island, which houses the offices of about 100 Iranian and foreign oil companies.

Oil and petrochemical products will be traded in Iranian Rials, as well as all other hard currencies, the statement quoted Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari as saying. About 20 brokers are already active in the market, it said.

Iran has already registered for another oil bourse, in which it has said it hopes to trade oil in Euros instead of dollars, to reduce any American influence over the Islamic Republic's economy.

A bourse official, Mahdi Karbasian, told the IRNA official news agency that such an oil market would begin operating within the next year.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/ ... an-Oil.php

The newly-inaugurated oil stock exchange is part of a two-phase project approved by Iranian cabinet.

Based on the approval, products of Iran's Oil Ministry should be traded through stock market in two forms which are the crude oil stock market and the oil and petrochemical products stock market.

http://www.payvand.com/news/08/feb/1161.html

[mos6507]

Kind of takes the wind out of the sales of "hey look, the intentional cable cutting has stopped the oil bourse!" kick.

Time to move along to the next tinfoil hat topic.

[Cid_Yama]

Bull Crap. The Oil Bourse opened <i>despite</i> US attempts to to prevent it. Or do you propose that an 'abandoned anchor' or 'voracious sharks' cut 5 cables over several days leaving <b>ONLY</b> Iran will total internet blackout.

[Plantagenet]

Oil bourse opens in Iran's Kish Island
Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:08:18

I guess the S.S. Jimmy Carter fantasies can be put to bed now. Good night!

[alokin]

don't know much about bourses, but 100 tons of whatever for the opening day doesn't seem to me very much.
Is this the oil bourse they always wanted to open?

[master_rb]

I did google search and found a lot of information about the opening but not the actual web site, if anybody can post the link to it I'd be happy to check the prices and stuff - something like nymex.com

or maybe they'll cut the internet to it again

[worrier]

The November election is a fraud played on the American people to give them the illusion they still live in a democracy. The outcome is already decided.

So who is it exactly who decides? And what have they decided this time?

[Johnvancouver]

McConnell said. He voiced concerns about the impact of a weaker US dollar on global oil suppliers, some of whom have asked to be paid in currencies other than dollars, or delinked their currency pegs to the dollar. “Continued concerns about dollar depreciation could tempt other producers to follow suit,” McConnell said.

This is interesting since the US has been trying to get China to revalue its currency for quite some time now. Will US now want China to reverse the course?

[Cid_Yama]

That was the first trade to commemorate the opening. This is the petroleum products bourse which opened first. the oil bourse itself will open later this year. The internet is still down.

[MrBill]

I did google search and found a lot of information about the opening but not the actual web site, if anybody can post the link to it I'd be happy to check the prices and stuff - something like nymex.com

or maybe they'll cut the internet to it again

The Internet is great. You can find any information you want. Even if it is not true! ; - )

There is just one small problem: Iran's internet connectivity was never lost. Todd Underwood and Earl Zmijewski of Renesys, an internet-monitoring firm, reported that four-fifths of the 695 networks with connections in Iran were unaffected. Most of the other theories dissolve under analysis, too. Perhaps the American navy can bug fibre-optic cables but it's not clear how. A report for the European Parliament found in 2000 that “optical-fibre cables do not leak radio frequency signals and cannot be tapped using inductive loops. [Intelligence agencies] have spent a great deal of money on research into tapping optical fibres, reportedly with little success.”

Source: Of cables and conspiracies

[alokin]

OK, because tehre were nothing in Reuters, nothing in Spiegel I thought, maybe it's nothing of importance or they don't want to cook it too hot which maybe would not be wisely.

[mos6507]

Bull Crap. The Oil Bourse opened <i>despite</i> US attempts to to prevent it. Or do you propose that an 'abandoned anchor' or 'voracious sharks' cut 5 cables over several days leaving <b>ONLY</b> Iran will total internet blackout.

If the US really cutting the cables, why did they allow the cables to be repaired when they could just keep snipping them? How hard would that be? You just have to keep retconning the conspiracy to match the facts on the ground, kind of like Richard Hoagland and the face on mars.

[alokin]

that would be too plump. cutting cables is not a real thread it is maybe more a severe warning,

An explanation of the silence of the international news on the opening of the oil bourse could be the fact that everyone knows that this is a very dangerous step, not only for Iran. They maybe want to downplay the event in order not to put fuel in the fire.

In spite it is their natural right trading their assets in whatever currency they like, it would be certainly better for them and for the whole world to delay the opening of the bourse and later bury the idea silently.

The risk is simply too big for all of us. In the same time they could increase (if such is possible) little by little the payments in other currency than the dollar. They would live in peace, and in the end the result would be the same, a bit of a softer landing for the US and ,yes Iran would not have won a economic and symbolic battle over the US, but still would have an intact country.

[Kingcoal]

It’s an interesting experiment based on the fact that oil is becoming scarce. When you hold something of extreme value, there is no need for brokers and huge discount marketplaces, just auction it off out of your garage; highest bidder wins.

If this paradigm goes forward and other oil producers follow suit with their own private bourses, I think we will see the return of a gold standard in international trade. After all, you really need some reference point to base your spot prices on and if you have an every man for himself global economy, fiat currencies are way to volatile to depend on. Historically, gold has been the unit of measurement in the international economy.

Price determination is an impossibly complex, chicken and egg thing without some bedrock asset used as a reference. Otherwise you have complete mayhem. One day it's dollars, another it's euros, then grain, then weapons, narcotics, family heirlooms; the list goes on and on. Buyers will offer up anything when there is no reference standard currency. I could see the US auctioning off its weapons stock to oil producers in such a world. Imagine the Middle East being flooded with weapons of mass destruction in exchange for oil? In a very short amount of time, there wouldn't be much of a Middle East left.

When I think about the possibilities, I'm reminded of the old adage of redistributing the world’s wealth equally and having it back in the same old hands just two years later.

Going back to a gold standard is a big problem because your customers don't have enough of it, which effectively shrinks your market (although that might not be seen as a bad thing in an oil exporting country, what do they care, they’re accumulating gold!) I just can’t see currency competition for resources working. It will start with two currencies, then four, then eight; you get the picture. History has shown us that internationally, only one currency works and that currency has historically been gold. The only alternative to gold is a currency backed by law and enforcement; examples are the dollar and the pound sterling. The euro could be such a currency, but the way I see it, the EU is big on international law, but short on international enforcement. I can’t really see the US sending troops anywhere to defend the euro.