Which is why I think your IOB will never fly.

I must say I go along with that view.

But I'm not proposing conventional geared futures contracts for the IOB (which is glacial in progress, to ssay the least). I'm proposing units in a "pool" of crude oil more akin to shares in an ETF.

An "asset-based" contract rather than a deficit-based one.

Paid up front, so no gearing: except of course you are free to borrow to buy the units.

So no monthly expiry dates, roll-overs and all of the costs that go with it.

And I will bet a pound to a penny that the Chinese - to name but one, would buy as much of this "virtual crude" as you could put on the market in preference to holding their reserves in dollars....

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson