Thesis with a bite

At every opportunity in the last four years my political essays have skimmed the subject of the petrodollar and US-OPEC relations. I’ve been waiting patiently for the chance to jump in head first and take a real crack at it. Now is the time, with my thesis proposal approved (to a degree), my opportunity has come, I hope it is a good one.

Petrodollar????? Conspiracy or not:

Firstly it is not a “conspiracy theory” like the ones about Project Serpo or even the more grounded (as in more to this earth rather than possibly true) ones such as New World Order. No this a theory like all other theories that exist and can therefore be proved with some good research as all the information needed is available.

To start with: What is the petrodollar? Briefly, it is the currency, US dollar, that all oil trade is conducted in. Meaning if you are France and want to buy oil you need to pay in US dollars. This makes the US dollar the reserve currency of the world.

Now OPEC, well this organisation is run by the leading Nations of exporting oil such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait etc. There are 12 of these countries in OPEC and they work with each other in the oil market. Until recently the US had hegemonic status which of course meant they were in control of the oil market. However this has recently changed as now the US are dependant on oil and are reliant on OPEC. Leading to a different relationship between the two, that is what I want to find out.

Lastly, what if OPEC members want to trade in a different currency instead of the US dollar? This would make sense as the US dollar is no longer as powerful or worth as much as it used to be. Well just ask Iraq what happens, in 2000 Iraq changed its trade to Euro. They were swiftly invaded by the US three years later because of “WMD’s” and links to Al Qaeda. Both reasons have since been proved wrong and inaccurate. Oh and what was one of the first acts the new Iraqi interim government introduced after Saddam’s departure? You guessed it, they reversed back to using US dollar instead of the Euro and at a time when the Euro was worth more. I suppose this was a thank you for ridding them of the evil Saddam.

So I guess OPEC members learnt their lesson now? No. Iran in February 2008 changed its oil bourse to Euro. Now they have nuclear weapons and are going to kill us all, apparently. Venezuela, another OPEC member, also has decided to change to Euro. How many attempts has there been at overthrowing or discrediting Chavez? Interesting stuff but of course I’m not suggesting a link between the petrodollar and Iran and Venezuela. I believe it is called coincidence.

This is just a little bit of background information, bit of fun. My thesis of course will be a lot more objective and empirical.