Saudi Arabia today led denials that talks are taking place to ditch the US dollar to buy and sell oil.

A report today said major producers in the Gulf such as Saudi Arabia were in secret talks with consumers such as Russia and China about ending dollar dealings and instead moving to a basket of currencies.

The report, in The Independent, said meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme which will mean oil is no longer priced in dollars.

The new basket of currencies proposed for oil trading includes the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold, and a new Arab currency — but not the dollar or the pound. The deadline for the transition is 2018.

“These plans will change the face of international financial transactions,” a Chinese banker said. “America and Britain must be very worried. You will know how worried by the thunder of denials this news will generate.”

Saudi Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser led the way and said the oil-rich kingdom has not held talks with any other oil producers or major consuming nations about such a move. Russia also denied it was involved.

But news of the talks sent the dollar lower against the euro, the yen and the pound today.

“This is US dollar-negative news which is moving markets, and shows that central banks not just in Asia are looking to diversify away from the dollar,” said Jonathan Cavenagh, currency analyst at Westpac.

However, he added that if the report was true, “this looks to be a very long-term thing with a few hurdles to cross”.