Iranian Oil Bourse: Chris Cook Interview

Chris Cook, former director of the International Petroleum Exchange and an energy consultant, is the originator of the Iranian Oil Bourse project.

Cook’s involvement in the Iranian Oil Bourse project stemmed from work he did in the late nineties on manipulation of the oil market by the intermediaries. As a result of the realisation of how the intermediaries were making the market more volatile than it needed to be, making money at both the producer and consumers expense, Cook wrote to the governor of the central bank of Iran proposing the creation of a Middle Eastern Exchange with its own benchmark price.

The Iranian’s liked the idea, the Saudi’s however couldn’t support it due to US connections. After 9/11 the Saudi’s withdrew their objections and in May 2004 Cook was invited to Iran’s central bank to give a presentation setting out how an oil exchange might operate. Cook and his consortium got the contract to put it together. Difficulties arose however since the Oil Ministry didn’t want transparency in the oil market, the current system not withstanding its flaws was making the Iranian elite lots of money.

Full interview available here:
Interview with Chris Cook, Originator of the Iranian Oil Bourse