Posted on 10/14/2009 2:55:19 PM PDT by Palin Republic
BEIJING, October 14 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia does not object to selling energy resources to China for roubles, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.
“We discussed the possibility of using our national currency in bilateral settlements between Russia and China, and our energy companies raised this issue, even Gazprom. In principle, we do not object to considering the possibility of selling our energy resources for roubles,” Putin told journalists after the end of his official visit to China on Wednesday.
“But this mean that our Chinese partners should have those roubles … We are even ready to buy something for yuan, but there should be balance, and this issue needs to be studied by experts,” the prime minister said.
Putin recalled that this issue would be studied shortly by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation finance ministers and chief bankers.
Gasoline has jumped nearly 20 cents here in the last week. Drill now, Drill here, Drill soon. Sarah is right, and the sooner we elect her, the sooner the recovery starts. Believe it.
China has scads of gold and can certainly buy the black greasy stuff that way. Gold gets you rubles, dollars, loons, pesos... any currency you want.
I’m not sure the proud Russian people will take a Chinese hegemony over their markets lying down like the US has. Not if they have an ounce of sense.
Is that linked to a corresponding leap in oil prices? Seasonal formula changes are going to be cutting in about now (winter gas has more highly volatile hydrocarbons in it than does summer gas) and may pose refinery capability issues.
If anything, Russia and China seem to be cozying up.
Well I did say if they have an ounce of sense. Russia is a very geriatric bear and China is a young dragon.
Russia is NOT a geriatric bear. It is a younger, slightly smaller bear than the old Soviet one (its father) left behind. However, this bear is growing strong, and will be stronger than the old Soviet bear that keeled over 20 years ago. And it will look and act like the old Soviet bear.
Its people are geriatric and they are even busier aborting away their young than America is. The result a hollow society without much will.
That may be true, but shale fracture technology is going to stunt the growth of The Bear for a while. If we ever get to the point of successfully applying this technology (or another) to shale oil, the Russians will be smoked, as will the Arabs.
There’s no way we can drill for oil, refine it and have it on the market fast enough to head off the price increases due to the declining dollar.
I’m not saying that drilling more oil/gas here is a bad idea - it certainly isn’t. I’m just saying that the size of the two problems (ie, the amount we import, coupled with the speed of the decline of the dollar) means that we wouldn’t be able to make more than a slight dent in the price trend that might set up based on the dollar decline. The nut of the issue here is the increasing loss of confidence in the US dollar.
The item is this story that should be loudly noted is that the ruskis are not stupid enough to trade with the chinese with chinese yuan. Brazil should take a note from the russians.
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