Iran May Sell Oil in Rubles to Break `Dollar Slavery’

(Bloomberg) — Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, may use the Russian ruble in trading on its new oil exchange, the country’s ambassador to Moscow said.

“Big energy producers like Iran and Russia should try to free the world of dollar slavery,” Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari said on Moscow’s Ekho Moskvy radio station today.


The two nations already cooperate in nuclear energy and may start closer coordination of natural-gas production. Russia holds the world’s largest gas reserves, followed by Iran, and together they produce of almost a fifth of the world’s oil. The two share the goal of finding alternatives to a weakened U.S. dollar.

Iran plans to trade oil in more currencies than in its own rial to offer diversity, the ambassador said. The exchange will open Feb. 17, the country’s official IRNA news service said this week. Iran has planned to open the exchange since 2005.

Bloomberg