Russian ruble could be used in oil trade deals in Iran

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Russian ruble could be used in oil trade deals in Iran

15/ 02/ 2008

MOSCOW, February 15 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian ruble could be used as a payment instrument for deals on an Iranian oil exchange, the Islamic Republic's ambassador to Moscow said on Friday.

"Possibly in the future, we'll be able to use the ruble, Russia's national currency, in our operations," Gholamreza Ansari said, adding that the Islamic Republic was currently busy launching a new oil trade exchange.

The Islamic Republic's oil minister, Gholam-Hossein Nozari, earlier said that Iran would launch on February 27 a commodities exchange for oil, petrochemicals and natural gas on the Persian Gulf island of Kish and that all financial settlements would be made in Iran's national currency, the rial.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20080215/99314908.html




Russia to dump waning dollar



Russian oil firm Rosneft will follow the lead of Gazprom and LUKOIL to sell crude in rubles amid the ongoing depreciation of the dollar.

"Our specialists are looking at all possibilities that could be beneficial for the company," Rosneft Spokesman Nikolai Manvelov said. "Everything depends on economic viability."

Russia's largest independent oil producer, LUKOIL earlier announced that the company will switch to the ruble in its gas and crude deals within two years.

"Selling for rubles is much more attractive," Deputy Chief Executive Officer Leonid Fedun said on December 12. "Gazprom is considering introducing ruble-denominated contracts and I think that technically Russian companies can do it by 2009 if the banks are ready."

“We consider the idea of selling our resources for rubles to be quite possible,” Gazprom's Vice President Alexander Medvedev said at a recent conference in New York.
Last month, Iran and Venezuela proposed to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to switch to a basket of currencies in its oil deals.
Iran, the world's fourth most prolific oil exporter, has already abandoned the dollar, Iran's Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari said on December 9, describing the currency as unreliable.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id...tionid=3510213




BANK OF RUSSIA - http://www.cbr.ru/eng

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Russia's Gazprom reaches agreement on crude production in Iran
19/ 02/ 2008

MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom has reached a deal with Iranian authorities for its crude producing arm to be involved in oil production in the Islamic Republic, the Russian energy giant said Tuesday.

"The parties have agreed to jointly develop two or three sites on the South Pars gas field and for Gazprom Neft to participate in a crude-producing project in Iran," Gazprom said.
"Prospecting and development of gas and oil fields, joint operations in transporting, processing and marketing of gas were named as the key areas for interaction," Gazprom said.

Gazprom has been taking part in developing the South Pars field's second and third stages together with France's TotalElf and Malaysia's Petronas. The facility is operating in design mode to produce and process 20 billion cu m of gas annually.

READ MORE - http://en.rian.ru/business/20080219/99634680.html

http://www.gazprom.com

Gazprom, (Russian: Газпром; long version: Открытое Aкционерное Oбщество Газпром; sometimes transcribed as Gasprom) is the largest Russian company. Gazprom is publicly traded as (RTS: GAZP MICEX: GAZP LSE: OGZD; Russian: ОАО Газпром. Gazprom is the biggest extractor of natural gas in the world. With sales of US$31 billion in 2004, it accounts for about 93 percent of Russian natural gas production; with reserves of 28,800 km³, it controls 16 percent of the world's gas reserves (as of 2004, including the Shtokman field.) After acquisition of the oil company Sibneft, Gazprom, with 119 billion barrels of reserves, ranks behind only Saudi Arabia, with 263 billion barrels, and Iran, with 133 billion barrels, as the world's biggest owner of oil and oil equivalent in natural gas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazprom

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Iran-Gazprom deal a blow to US
Wed, 20 Feb 2008

An Iranian lawmaker has said Tehran-Gazprom cooperation indicates Washington's failure to enforce effective sanctions on the country.

"Gazprom's investment in Iran's oil and gas sector is a major step in Tehran-Moscow relations," said Kazem Jalali, rapporteur of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.
Iran reached an agreement with Russia's Gazprom on Tuesday to form a joint company for implementing energy projects.
Gazprom will also cooperate with Iran to develop two phases of the South Pars gas field.

READ MORE - http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?i...onid=351020103