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Dubai: 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 by a weekly magazine.
A decline in the dollar has eroded oil exporters' purchasing power, prompting some Opec members of to call for a switch away from the US currency.
Badri's remarks sent the dollar lower against the euro on Friday.
"Maybe we can price the oil in the euro," the Middle East Economic Digest quoted Badri as saying. "It can be done, but it will take time."
"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 Badri.
The euro rose sharply to a session high of $1.4547 from $1.4500, where it was shortly before the report. It then settled back at $1.4515.
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