[mos6507]

In spite it is their natural right trading their assets in whatever currency they like

Exactly. That is the definition of the free market. If the dollar collapses to nothing because it's been propped up by oil bourses, then it's our own damn fault for having such a fragile monetary system.

[julianj]

This made my day, I have been telling people about it - to mostly blank stares for years. Now it has happened.

An article here:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e19388.htm

I wonder what Petrodollar makes of it? Or Mr Bill?

(can we bet on a grudge match between the two heavweights I need to make some money to invest in Iranian Rials

[Euric]

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.

Iran can always route its Internet traffic through Russia, thwarting US efforts to cut Iran off.

The cut cables seemed to affect the Internet traffic of US allies and business associates rather then the intended target of Iran. Every attempt the US makes to try to interfere with the euros rise only makes the dollar decrease more in value and the euro go up.

[Euric]

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.

http://www.economist.com/world/internat ... d=10653963

http://www.bloggernews.net/113671


Iran NEVER lost Internet service. Many of America's allies did.

From the links:

Apparently there was some slowdown of the Iranian Internet, but that the companies running the Internet soon arranged to reroute their signals via Turkey to avoid the break.

That’s why I had figured. Tehran is quite near to Turkey, so would have other lines of cable that didn’t rely on underseas cable. This caused some slowdowns, but the “complete” Internet outage claimed by some websites was not true.

Egypt lost 70% of its Internet connectivity immediately. More than half of western India's outbound capacity crashed, messing up the country's outsourcing industry. Over the next few days, as cable operators sought new routes, 75m people from Algeria to Bangladesh saw Internet links disrupted or cut off.

If cutting cables as a means to cut off Iran is an example of American ingenuity it seems American ingenuity is seriously lacking. George Bush would be better off contacting some Hollywood movie script writers. At least in their story lines, the US side always gets it right.

[Euric]

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.

Because the cables they did cut had the wrong effect. It hurt America's business partners and what little it did to Iran, Iran was able to route its Internet connections through Turkey and restore full service.

Continuing to cut the cables would only spark the ire of America's allies who are few these days.

[Euric]

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.

The media makes a lot of money propagating the nuclear weapons production. I guess a story about the evil oil bourse trading in currencies other then dollars doesn't strike the same fear in people as a story on nuclear weapons being built by an access of evil country.

[mos6507]

Because the cables they did cut had the wrong effect.

The cables who cut? You have evidence we haven't seen yet or are you talking out of your ass like everybody else?

[ki11ercane]

Doesn't seem to have done much damage to the U.S. so far, and it doesn't seem to be "all in the news" either.

Guess time will tell.

[Graeme]

Iraq climbs world oil rankings

In a move that is set to bolster its negotiating power within the OPEC cartel of oil-exporting countries, Iraq said its 66 known oilfields were now thought to contain 143 billion barrels of crude oil - an increase of 24 per cent on a previous estimate of 115 billion barrels.

The revised figure is higher than Iran's estimated reserves of 137 billion barrels but still leaves Iraq trailing Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, according to OPEC figures.

theaustralian

[Tanada]

Production rate is everything, theoretical reserves mean nothing if it takes 500 years to produce them.

[bratticus]

Iran pipeline rupture causes Gulf oil slick -report - Sun Feb 6, 2011 2:08pm GMT / Reuters

... The spill was caused by an explosion in a corroded pipeline at the port city of Daylam in Bushehr province, Mehr said.

"The pipeline blast and the subsequent discharge of crude oil has created large spills in the sea, some of which stretch 20 km (12 miles) along the shoreline going 8 km (5 miles) into the sea," said Amir Sediqi, a local official of the Environmental Organisation.

The report did not say how much oil was lost or when the leak started. The Oil Ministry was not immediately available to comment.

Stormy weather was hampering clean-up efforts, Sediqi said. ...

Iran oil spill hits Gulf coast Feb 7 / Straights Times

... Atabakzadeh said the breakage in the pipeline between Aghajari and Deylam had happened last week and described the damage caused by the oil spill as 'irreversible.'

[bratticus]

Blasts hit three Iran gas pipelines Reuters / Feb 11

TEHRAN Feb 11 (Reuters) - Simultaneous explosions on three gas pipelines jolted the nearby holy Shi'ite city of Qom, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Friday.

... Mehr said the blasts had caused unease. Rumours were spreading due to what it called an inappropriate flow of information on the incidents. ...

Three gas pipelines explode in central Iran Daily Times / Feb 11

... ‘Three gas pipelines exploded at around 5:50 am 25 kilometres north of town of Salafchegan,’ a special free economic zone located southwest of Qom, the Mehr report said, adding the blast caused panic among the residents of the clerical city.

... Seven major oil and gas pipelines are located in the area where the fuel from fields in southern Iran is transferred to the north where most major Iranian cities are based.

Dvrbrgrdan Salafchegan, Iran
http://goo.gl/SpWgG

'No halt in Iran gas flow to Turkey' PressTV.ir / Feb 14

... “The pipelines were completely repaired” within 39 hours, Oji told Mehr news agency.

... Oji added that gas flow to local users resumed by using other gas pipelines in the region and there was no halt in the gas flow in the network.

[Ferretlover]

I wonder whose handiwork (or, lack of handiwork) this can be attributed to-this time.

Can the weather be affecting the pipelines? Or, are they just old like the Alaskan line?

[bratticus]

Was it a co-incidence that they both hit at the same time?

http://is.gd/m5fG2B

http://is.gd/DP74av

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgsdquC8YUM

[JohnRM]

Omfg, gas pipeline explosion in Columbia?!

District of Columbia?
Columbia University?
Space Shuttle Columbia?

Or did you mean Colombia?

[Pops]

It opens... again.

Mohsen Qamsari, deputy director for international affairs of the Iranian National Oil Company was modest about the exchange’s initial capabilities, saying, "The commodity stock exchange has been pursuing a mechanism for offering crude oil on the stock exchange for a long time, and it has taken the preliminary steps, to the extent possible. Considering the existing banking problems, foreign customers are not expected to be taking part in the first phase of offering crude oil on the stock exchange, and this will be done on a trial basis. Today Bahregan heavy, high quality, low sulfur crude oil with less sourness will be offered on the stock exchange for the first time. In the first phase, a 600,000 barrel shipment will be offered."...

Even as Congress remains tone-deaf to the recession’s effect on American jobs and the economy, others have taken careful note. On 17 June 2008, addressing the 29th meeting of the Council of Ministers of the OPEC Fund for International Development in the Iranian city of Isfahan, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told those in attendance, "The fall in the value of the dollar is one of the biggest problems facing the world today. The damage caused by this has already affected the global economy, particularly those of the energy-exporting countries. ... Therefore, I repeat my earlier suggestion, that a combination of the world's valid currencies should become a basis for oil transactions, or (OPEC) member countries should determine a new currency for oil transactions."...



So, while Washington prepares to commit political hara-kiri, Iran is preparing to take away a little of the capitalist glow from New York and London. If the Chinese decide to start paying for their Iranian purchases strictly in yuan, expect the trickle away from the dollar in energy pricing to become a stampede. That ought to give Washington politicos an issue to think about besides gay marriage.

Oilprice.com,H/T Peakoil.com

[eXpat]

There won´t be a single "dumping dollar" event, rather lots of this:
China And Iran To Bypass Dollar, Plan Oil Barter System, And A Deeper Dive Into The Iranian Oil Bourse

One of the more notable events in the past week was the previously discussed reopening of the Iranian Oil Bourse, an attempt by Iran to launch a venue that bypasses US sanctions against Iran which has prevented payment in the world’s reserve currency for Iranian goods. “Big deal”, some will say, this is not the first time Iran has attempt to upstage the Great Satan. Well, true, although as OilPrice said last week, “what it would take for Iran’s new exchange to survive and flourish are some heavy-duty customers that Washington would be wary of picking a fight with, and Tehran already has one – China… China, the world’s largest buyer of Iranian crude oil, has renewed its annual import pacts for 2011.

In 2010 Iran supplied about 12 percent of China’s total crude imports. According to the latest report of the China Customs Organization, Iran’s total oil exports to China stood at 8.549 million tons between January and April 2011, up 32 percent compared with the same period last year. Iran is currently China’s third largest supplier of crude oil, providing China with nearly one million barrels per day.” Still, the perceived provocation to Uncle Sam should China go ahead and slap America in the face by accepting the existence of the Kish exchange, would echo around the world. Which is why many don’t think much if anything will happen. Until today, that is: according to the FT, China has decided to commence an barter system in which Iranian oil is exchanged directly for Chinese exports. The net result: not only a slap for the US Dollar, but implicitly for all fiat intermediaries, as Iran and China are about to prove that when it comes to exchanging hard resources for critical Chinese goods and services, the world’s so called reserve currency is completely irrelevant.

The implications of this are momentous, especially for US debt, whose indomitability is only predicated upon the continued acceptance of the currency it backs as a global reserve. If China is now openly admitting to the world that it does not need US monetary intermediation, and by implication, the “debt” backing said intermediation, what then? And who will follow China next?

http://lonerangersilver.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/china-and-iran-to-bypass-dollar-plan-oil-barter-system-and-a-deeper-dive-into-the-iranian-oil-bourse/

[Sixstrings]

The Chinese government is smart. They have long term, geopolitical strategies. Seems like China is always holding the cards these days.. Europe needs a bailout, there's China with mountains of cash. They're supporting us too, to an extent.

At the same time they're buying up oil and farmland all over the globe. And cozying up to Iran. What's American and European strategy? Other than chasing around Libya playing whack-a-mole?

[Pops]

What's American and European strategy? Other than chasing around Libya playing whack-a-mole?

Free TRADE! Less regulation! Drill Baby!

I wish someone would argue with me that while capitalism is the best system for exploiting expanding resources it ain't so great for peaking/dwindling resources.