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Page added on July 6, 2014
CEO Of One Of The World’s Largest Energy Majors “Sees No Reason For Petrodollar”
The USA is fast running out of friends to support its ‘exorbitant privelege’. Having alienated the Germans over NSA-eavesdropping, ‘boomerang’d the Russians into de-dollarization, tariffed and quantitatively eased China into diversification, and finally ‘punished’ France into discussing the dollar’s demise; it appears no lessor person than the CEO of Total (the world’s 13th biggest oil producer and Europe’s 2nd largest), believes “There is no reason to pay for oil in dollars.” Clearly, based on Christophe de Margerie’s comments, that we have passed peak Petrodollar.
Oil major Total’s chief executive said on Saturday the euro should have a bigger role in international trade although it was not possible to do without the U.S. dollar.
Christophe de Margerie was responding to questions about calls by French policymakers to find ways at EU level to bolster the use of the euro in international business following a record U.S. fine for BNP.
…
“There is no reason to pay for oil in dollars,” he said. He said the fact that oil prices are quoted in dollars per barrel did not mean that payments actually had to be made in that currency.
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Thursday that euro zone finance ministers would discuss ways of boosting use of the euro in international trade in their next monthly meeting on Monday.
“It would be a way to protect businesses when, outside of U.S. territory, they carry out transactions that are perfectly legal in the country they belong to,” he said.
So even a major beneficiary of the status quo appears to see the end in sight for the Petrodollar.
As we showed only yesterday…(and have ever since 2010)… nothing lasts forever
Meanwhile, somewhere Putin is still laughing.
As Brandon Smith concluded previously with regard the ‘anything but random’ nature of th emore frequent discussion of the dollar as resever currency:
The dollar is no more invincible than any other fiat currency in history. In some ways, it is actually far weaker than any that came before. The dollar is entirely reliant on its own world reserve status in order to hold its value on the global market. As is evident, countries like China are already dumping the greenback in trade with particular nations. It is utterly foolish to assume this trend is somehow “random” rather than deliberate. Foreign countries would not be initiating the process of a dollar dump today if they did not mean to follow through with it tomorrow. All that is left is for a cover crisis to be conjured. Existing tensions in the Mideast signal a pervasive crisis, most likely an energy crisis, in the near term.
It appears that making friends and influencing people is the opposite of what America is achieving…at a time when it needs them the most.
17 Comments on "CEO Of One Of The World’s Largest Energy Majors “Sees No Reason For Petrodollar”"
Davy on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 6:18 am
Of course little is talked about with the interconnectedness of the dollar and the consequences and unintended consequences of a move away from the dollar. I welcome a reduced dollar maybe it will final turn the US inward and away from globalism. All globalism has done for the people of the US is enrich a few 1%ers. The lion share of the population has seen their wages stagnate and decent manufacturing jobs move to East Asia. These jobs that moved to East Asia where mainly low tech low value jobs but I would like to see some of them back minus the plastic shit we see out of China. The plastic low value consumer shit from places like the Philippians and China will be eliminated with the compression of BAU to essentials and away from discretionary consumables. These folks that crow about the end of the dollar fail to see the end of the dollar is also part of the symptoms of the end of globalism and the status quo BAU. The new trade item of choice in the future will be the basics of the food chain which the US produces in abundance. The rest of the world will be lining up for food. I hope for them the US has enough to share. I imagine places like the Philippians and China will see a good bit of hunger when there is no US food exports going to them like the current arrangement.
louis wu on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 7:33 am
One way or another the US dollar will lose its status as the world reserve currency but the method and consequences will probably cause much more turmoil than the econimists and financial types imagine.
clueless on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 9:29 am
Davy, you’re day dreaming again. USA will go down….ALONE. bwahahahahahahaha.
Goodbye America…you have more or less 5 plus 8 months to go before they all round you up in FEMA camps.
Get ready with your passports!
TIC TOC TIC TOC
Davy on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 9:36 am
Clue it is easy to crow like a rooster but much harder to sing like a song bird.
noobtube on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 10:32 am
Yes, the world needs Monsanto engineered, GMO, soil-depleting, mono-crops that only the United States can provide.
How did the world survive without the United States feeding the world? I guess before Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland, Dow, Upjohn, Kellogg, Coke, and Union Carbide, the rest of the world didn’t exist. The world only came into existence once the United States decided to feed it, out of the kindness of its heart.
The world needs the petrodollar because the United States is so wonderful with its soldiers invading 150+ countries around the world.
Look how healthy Americans are. Doesn’t the whole world want a cancer-riddled, obese, artery clogged, stroke-inducing, diabetes-creating, car-riding society?
JuanP on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 10:44 am
Move on, guys. The US Dollar has been losing its importance as international trade and reserve currency since last century. It is OK and was always meant to happen. We will no longer be 5% of the population consuming 25% of global resources, we are moving towards 4% of the global population consuming 8-10% of resources.
In conclusion, we will have much less than before, but will remain better off than most places, and the fall will be brutal for most in the USA and the rest of the world, too.
Nony on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 11:03 am
I agree with Davy about the 1%ers. And don’t think it is a Republican only conspiracy. Goldman Sachs is thick with Democrats.
On the merits of it…people will price contracts however it makes most sense and even financial instruments will end up being in what currency makes sense, eventually. I would think that purchases can be easily made in whatever currency, by rapid exchange to the reference. I guess there are some minor values for a “stable” currency and US does have nukes and all that.
steve on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 11:19 am
“Goodbye America…you have more or less 5 plus 8 months to go before they all round you up in FEMA camps.”
Pace yourself Clue…this still has a long way to go….the FED spent 16 trillion in the great recession bailing out the rest of the world…when the U.S goes down so does the rest of the world…and not sure where you are but I bet it won’t be a pleasant ride for you….
noobtube on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 12:08 pm
The United States bailed out the rest of the world by paying itself for the debts it created on the backs of the rest of the world.
I am always amused by the BS that Americans believe about themselves.
Oh, the world will starve without the United States… despite the fact the United States is the one that is causing all the starvation.
The United States is the biggest deadbeat and consumer (see waster) in the world. But, somehow, the world NEEDS its resources wasted by the United States so it can produce world-class porn, the latest Hollywood blockbuster, yet another $100 million fighter jet and $1 billion obsolete-before-its-built aircraft carrier, more McMansions, and hundreds of millions of car-driving drones.
Yep, that’s what the world NEEDS.
J-Gav on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 1:05 pm
The world is chipping away at dollar hegemony but would prefer that it doesn’t just disappear in a cloud of smoke.
Clueless-and-less: Passports? To go where? Most Americans don’t have passports. Nor do they speak any foreign languages. And what exactly is “5 + 8 months to go” supposed to mean? NB: I don’t contest the existence of the camps you speak of but I think even you will agree that there aren’t enough of them to accommodate the entire American population.
Northwest Resident on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 1:30 pm
JuanP — I couldn’t agree more. It has been apparent to me for some time that the policies being implement, the financial games being played, the staged political acts being put on for the masses and so much more are all intended to bring about the same outcome — reduce gluttonous American consumption. There was a time during rapid economic expansion in America where even the dumbest and most lazy among us could still consume far more food and energy than the average world citizen. The amount of waste that was created stuffing those stupid pot bellies and the multitudes of low-genetic quality offspring is staggering. There are some really hardcore realities in this world that humans must face, but the excess of oil and energy pumped through the American economy allowed even the slugs to drink champagne and live the good life. That free ride is coming to an end, slowly, incrementally, but surely. As long as BAU continues, there will always be gluttonous consumption in America. But as the gravy train continues its course down the backside of peak oil, we will see millions of “underserving” Americans kicked off that train — we’re seeing it today, but we’ll be seeing a lot more of it as time goes on.
alokin on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 7:03 pm
Has anyone here seen these camps?
Makati1 on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 8:37 pm
Anyone consider that the US has to be taken down for a world government to prevail? Ditto for a world currency. The players at the top are not Americans or Europeans or Asians. They are world citizens that may have homes in all of those areas. The game being played has no favorite countries, only goals.
As for when the US will collapse or if it will, time will tell. For my family’s sake I hope it is slow and easy, but that appears to be less and less likely as time progresses.
Every move Obama makes takes the dollar down faster. Eventually he will make the one that sets off the panic out of the dollar. He is now telling the largest trading countries/blocs that they have to bow when he enters the room or he will unilaterally sanction them by limiting their trade or banking. Putin sees it. So do more and more leaders and corporate CEOs and they are now openly doing something to stop it. How many are now thinking “Fuck the US!” Nuland style? More and more every day.
Makati1 on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 11:30 pm
BTW: Fact or Fiction?
“Mike Maloney: The Dollar As We Know It Will Be Gone Within 6 Years”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-06/mike-maloney-dollar-we-know-it-will-be-gone-within-6-years
Makati1 on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 11:41 pm
It just keeps on coming:
“…To complete the French triple whammy offensive against the US Dollar this weekend (first, French central banker Noyer suggesting de-dollarisation; second, French oil major Total’s CEO “seeing no reason for the Petrodollar”), French finance minister Michel Sapin says “now is the right time to bolster the use of the euro” adding, more ominously for the dollar, “we sell ourselves aircraft in dollars. Is that really necessary? I don’t think so.” Careful to avoid upsetting his ‘allies’ across the pond, Sapin followed up with the slam-dunk diplomacy, “This is not a fight against dollar imperialism,” except, of course – that’s exactly what it is… just as it was over 40 years ago when the French challenged Nixon….”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-06/france-assures-push-against-petrodollar-not-fight-against-dollar-imperialism
Makati1 on Sun, 6th Jul 2014 11:53 pm
And again: “BRICS morphing into anti-dollar alliance”
“We are discussing with China and our BRICS partners the establishment of a system of multilateral swaps that will allow to transfer resources to one or another country, if needed. A part of the currency reserves can be directed to [the new system].”
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_07_03/BRICS-is-morphing-into-an-anti-dollar-alliance-6229/
And the beat goes on…
bobinget on Mon, 7th Jul 2014 12:31 pm
It seem drumming for euro support brought out the
worst of all of us. Lets put some perspective on this world shaking news;
Weaker USD or seven extra weeks of Golf, you choose.
Here’s an item that should bring cheer.
Canada Struggles with Melting Permafrost as Climate Warms
In 2006, reduced thickness of ice roads forced the Diavik Diamond Mine in Northern Canada to fly in fuel rather than try to transport cargo across melted pathways, at an extra cost of $11.25 million.
The mountain pine beetle outbreak in British Columbia—fueled by higher winter temperatures that allow insects to survive—expanded in recent years to be 10 times greater than any previously recorded outbreak in the province. Mortality rates of sockeye salmon, meanwhile, have increased because of higher water temperatures in the Fraser River.
These examples are among many in Canada’s national climate assessment—an overview from the national government of existing climate science affecting the country. It also includes government and industry adaptation activities, such as new electricity forecasts for hydropower because of projected water flow shifts.
While focused on Canada, the overview holds relevance for global industries, such as oil sands developers potentially affected by floods and shippers traversing Canadian waterways, analysts say.
The report released by Natural Resources Canada—a third national assessment of climate impacts in the country—also provides more detail than a regional chapter on North America in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change documents released this year.
“It is important that Canadian scientists summarize the Canadian literature for Canadian decisionmakers,” said Paul Kovacs, president and CEO of Property and Casualty Insurance Compensation Corp. The report released last month included more than 90 authors and 115 expert reviewers, and analysis from more than 1,000 studies.
Running on fast-forward
Many of the report’s climate statistics are stark. Between 1950 and 2010, Canada’s average air temperature over land warmed about double the global average, or about 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The country as a whole has become wetter, while sea levels on the country’s coasts rose about 21 centimeters between 1880 and 2012.
The impacts are apparent in Canada’s north, the report says, where melting permafrost and glaciers are changing the landscape quickly. “Glaciers in Yukon have lost about 22% since the 1950s,” the report notes. Lake ice—critical for activities such as ice hockey—may decrease in duration by roughly a month by midcentury, according to scientists.
Earlier this year, Canada’s insurance industry reported that 2013 was the costliest ever because of claims from extreme weather, with losses rising above $3 billion (ClimateWire, Jan. 22).
On the other hand, climate change may help some food production and industries that can benefit from northward expansion such as maple syrup developers. “Total biomass of production from wild, capture fisheries in Canada [are] expected to increase due to climate-induced shifts in fish distributions,” the report states.
Industries need more guidance
In another small example of how warming plays out on the ground, the report notes that the golf industry in the Toronto region may benefit, as warmer weather may allow the golf season to extend by as much as seven weeks in the 2020s.
Blair Feltmate, an associate professor at University of Waterloo, welcomed the analysis but said it didn’t go far enough in outlining solutions for industries and communities. “It’s not what’s in the report … it’s what’s not in the report,” he said.
He noted, for instance, that melting permafrost in mining areas is putting industrial tailings ponds at risk of seepage. What would be more helpful is for industries to be provided with an adaptation “to do” list, rather than a broad overview, said Feltmate, who is leading a more than $1 million project funded by an insurance company to implement adaptation measures in several Canadian cities.
Overall, the country is doing some things right, such as recently pledging to update flood maps that “were completely out of date,” Feltmate said. At the same time, there are still too many people working in different agencies not sharing information with one another—and provinces—about things such as flood protection options.
“There needs to be one national coordinating entity on adaptation,” he said.
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. http://www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500