Despite the ongoing speculation in the media regarding de-dollarization, which in practice usually means adopting the Chinese yuan, many countries and companies do not find it to be a worthy replacement for the world’s leading reserve currency.
Saudi Arabia is not planning to sell crude oil for Chinese yuan and will continue trading the commodity for US dollars, Amin Nasser, the CEO of Saudi Aramco, said. Speaking to journalists at a Vienna conference of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries, the chief executive emphatically rejected the possibility of oil trade in RMB.
Nasser also noted that Saudi Aramco is expanding exports to European countries thanks to the EU ban on Russian oil imports. For example, the Saudi Arabian oil giant has recently signed its first ever supply agreement with Polish oil company PKN Orlen. The CEO of Saudi Aramco stated that his company was meeting the demand of its consumers and was increasing oil deliveries to different countries.
The use of the Chinese yuan in international oil trade has been extensively promoted by Beijing since December 2022. Since then, China has been using its national currency to pay for Russian crude oil imports. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called upon Arab countries to help China reduce the influence of the United States. Later, Saudi Arabian Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said that Riyadh was open to discussing oil trade settlements in currencies other than the US dollar. However, he seemingly referred to the use of the euro, and not the Chinese yuan.
