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Saturday August 17, 8:29 am Eastern Time
Dow Jones Business News


Iran Mulls Dropping Dollar As Currency Of Oil Sales
-Report


TEHRAN -(Dow Jones)- Iran is considering whether to change the currency
basis of its crude oil sale from the U.S. dollar to the euro to avert
losses from the declining value of the dollar against major world
currencies, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Co., Seyyed Mehdi
Mir-Moezzi, said in remarks published Saturday.

"Decision making in connection to the continuation of transactions in
dollars is being considered in a committee set up at the Central bank of
Iran," the local daily Hamshahri quoted Mir-Moezzi as saying.

He said the NIOC has a representative at the committee to help it arrive at
a decision.

The committee's decision will be also of importance to the NIOC if it
should decide to engage in the sale of Iranian crude on a short-sale basis,
Mir-Moezzi said.

The slide in the dollar's value against the euro in the wake of U.S.
corporate financial scandal recently has prompted debate in the Iranian
media whether oil pricing should continue based on the dollar.

Iranian economists are asking the CBI to even change the reserves in its
Currency Stabilization Fund, with some $17 billion in savings, to euros.

According to an Oil ministry official, Iran is interested both in stable
oil prices and stable currencies. The oil sales are the main earner of hard
currency for the Iranian government.

-By Hashem Kalantari, Dow Jones Newswires, (009821) 8966230.