09-02-08 OPEC may abandon the dollar for pricing oil and adopt the euro but any such switch will "take time", OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Badri was quoted as saying.
A decline in the dollar has eroded oil exporters' purchasing power, prompting some members to call for a switch away from the US currency.

Al-Badri's remarks sent the dollar lower against the euro.
"Badri tells... that the producers' cartel may switch to the euro within a decade to combat the dollar's decline," a report quoted Al-Badri as saying. "It took two world wars and more than 50 years for the dollar to become the dominant currency. Now we are seeing another strong currency coming into the [frame], which is the euro," said Al-Badri, who is Libyan.

Iran, at odds with the West over its nuclear programme, and its anti-US ally Venezuela have pressed for OPEC to abandon the dollar and perhaps price oil in a basket of currencies. But they have had little success despite the dollar's sharp fall against a basket of world currencies in recent months amid growing concerns about the health of the US economy and the prospect of interest rate cuts in the US.
OPEC groups 13 members and pumps 2 in every 5 barrels of crude oil.