The Biggest Threat To Dollar Dominance

 

Russian oil exporters are pressuring Western commodity traders to pay for Russian crude in euros and not dollars as Washington prepares more sanctions for the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Moscow, Reuters reported last week, citing as many as seven industry sources.

While it may have come as a surprise to the traders, who, Reuters said, were not too happy about it, the Russian companies’ move was to be expected as the Trump administration pursues a foreign policy where sanctions feature prominently. This approach, however, could undermine the dominance of the U.S. dollar as the global oil trade currency.

Venezuela Ditches US Dollar, Will Use Euros For International Trade

 

Venezuela has just taken the next step in its quest to “free” itself from the tyranny of US dollar hegemony. One year after the country said it would stop accepting US dollars as payment for its (ever shrinking) oil exports (saying the country’s state-run oil company would accept payment in yuan instead), Venezuelan Vice President for Economy Tareck El Aissami said Tuesday that Venezuela will officially purge the dollar from its exchange market in favor of euros.

Russia, China Playing Major Role in Keeping Venezuela Afloat

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro / Getty Images

 

The countries ‘have provided capital, goods, services, and political backing’

Russia and China have played a major role in keeping the dictatorial Maduro regime in Venezuela afloat, according to expert testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday.

Evan Ellis, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a professor at the U.S. Army War College, appeared before the Western Hemisphere subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs Committee for a hearing on the malicious influence of state and criminal actors in the Latin American nation’s ongoing breakdown.

Oil Rich Venezuela Stops Accepting Dollars

Source: The Burning Platform

 

• President Maduro ‘ Venezuela will create a basket of currencies to free us from the dollar,”
• Oil traders ordered to stop accepting U.S. dollar in exchange for crude oil
• Order comes following calls from Russia and China to find alternatives to current reserve system
• U.S. Dollar accounts for two-thirds of global trade
• Venezuela has over ten-times more oil than United States
• Super powers are gradually turning to gold to avoid using world’s main reserve currency
• Are we seeing the beginning of the end for the U.S. dollar?

The oil-rich country of Venezuela has stopped accepting the U.S. Dollar as payment for oil.

Last week President Maduro warned that the country would this week ‘free’ itself from the US dollar.

Venezuela Raises Fuel Prices By More Than 6,000 Percent

In a televised-address on February 17, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro delivered some crushing news to his country.

To address the fiscal crisis facing the country, the government decided to raise fuel prices by more than 6,000 percent. While that may sound dramatic, it will still leave Venezuela with some of the cheapest fuel in the world. Prices for 95 octane gasoline at the pump will jump from 0.097 bolivars to 6 bolivars. It was the first increase in fuel prices in 20 years.

Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago sign offshore natural gas deal

Caracas: Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago have signed a deal to develop three gas fields that span their maritime border and contain reserves totaling nearly 12 trillion cubic feet.

“We’ve signed the accords for (the Loran-Manatee bloc, the largest of the three), and today we signed (the accord governing) how we’re going to operate those fields,” Venezuela’s Rafael Ramirez, who heads state-owned oil giant PDVSA, said Wednesday.