Toadfrog, I now know what you meant by "vulgar Marxist". It's an unfortunate term.

You say,

"If someone were concerned about whether oil was denominated in Dollars or Euros, we would have heard about it."

This is not necesarilly true. It's not part of the propaganda package being put out by the White House now.

You say:
" Having it denominated in Dollars has advantages for the United States if the Dollar declines, because it means imports are cheaper."

This begs the question of who controls the imports. Suppose the EU can sell the US oil at a cheaper rate, this still means that the rates are controlled by other countries rather than the States.
And it doesn't mean that the Euro backed oil wouldn't weaken the value of the dollar. It would.

You say,

" Up to recently, the Dollar has not declined."

Not sure this is true. . There are two kinds of exchange rates. A banker's rate and another kind. Even at that, the dollar can decline.



You ask:

" If you can think of a single reason why the oil companies should care whether the price is set using Dollars or Euros, please explain why they should care. "

The main reason that the oil companies in the US would care is that their control of the companies would not be as strong with Euro-backed oil. This would affect the means of production of this oil, the distribution and the management of oil companies. Up to now, the US has been the beneficiary of much of the oil of the world. With Euro-backed oil, this would change drastically. Prices could escalate making the trading value of the dollar weaker. Other countries would have more control over the flow of oil.

If for example, Saudi Arabia decided to go with the Euro, the American dollar would surely be devalued. The Saudis would be far less interested in US business. The weakening dollar's purchasing power would be affected in every buying area. Whoever controls the national currency controls the oil companies. This seems obvious to me.

Obviously,currency is not internationally equally valued. Some countries suffer inordinately from undervalued currency. If the dollar were devalued to the level of the ruble, do you honestly think that Americans would enjoy the luxury of the amount of oil they consume today? The SUV would be a rusty relic.

I think Heard has a point. To dimiss it as nonsense is nonsense.

Frank Hamilton