“Petrodollar” has been cited in print since 1973; “petrogold” has been cited in print since at least 2008. The “petrogold” term was popularized on the blog Zero Hedge on October 23, 2012, in the post “How Iran Evades The Western Blockade: The Turkey-Dubai-Iran PetroGold Triangle”:
 
“Because while Iran may have no access to dollars, it has ample access to gold. This in itself is not new—we have reported in the past that Iran has imported substantial amounts of gold from Turkey, despite the Turkish government’s stern denials. Today, courtesy of Reuters, we learn precisely what the 21st century equivalent of the Great Silk Road looks like, and just how effective Iran has been as a lab rat in escaping the great petrodollar experiment, from which conventional wisdom tells us there is no escape. Presenting: petrogold”
 
“The term “petrogold” was further popularized on the blog The Economic Collapse on February 12, 2013, in the post “Petrogold: Are Russia And China Hoarding Gold Because They Plan To Kill The Petrodollar.” With the petrodollar; oil transactions use the U.S. dollar; with petrogold, oil transactions use gold as a medium of exchange.
 
     
Gold Club Asia Forums
goldamateur
07-05-2008, 08:39 PM
Maybe in the future we will hear of the word ’ petrogold’ instead of ‘petrodollars’ and ‘petroeuros’.
 
Zero Hedge
How Iran Evades The Western Blockade: The Turkey-Dubai-Iran PetroGold Triangle
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/23/2012 13:07 -0400
In recent months there has been a lot of incorrect speculation that because Iran has been shut off from the petrodollar, SWIFT-mediated regime, its economy will implode as the country has no access to the all important greenback and can thus not conduct international trade - the driving factor behind the international sanctions that seek to topple the local government as Iran dies an economic death. And while there have been bouts of substantial inflation, which so far the local government appears to have managed to put a lid on by curbing gray market speculation, Iran continues to more or less operate on its merry ways with international trade most certainly taking place, especially with China, Russia and India as main trading partners. “How is this possible” those who support the Western-led embargo of all Iranian trade will ask? Simple - gold. Because while Iran may have no access to dollars, it has ample access to gold. This in itself is not new - we have reported in the past that Iran has imported substantial amounts of gold from Turkey, despite the Turkish government’s stern denials. Today, courtesy of Reuters, we learn precisely what the 21st century equivalent of the Great Silk Road looks like, and just how effective Iran has been as a lab rat in escaping the great petrodollar experiment, from which conventional wisdom tells us there is no escape. Presenting: petrogold.
     
The FAL Files
Thorack
October 23, 2012, 12:44
Petrogold, the global blackmarket currency!!
Well,
 
Everyone knows Iran is getting around the sanctions everyway they can. The Turks, thumbing their nose at the Euro crowd, have been buying Iranian oil with Turk Lira that the Iranians turn in for Turk gold, which they use to buy everything they need.

Something makes me think that controls on gold might be coming in the future.
   
The Economic Collapse
Petrogold: Are Russia And China Hoarding Gold Because They Plan To Kill The Petrodollar?
By Michael, on February 12th, 2013
Will oil soon be traded in a currency that is thousands of years old?  What would a “gold for oil” system mean for the petrodollar and the U.S. economy?  Are Russia and China hoarding massive amounts of gold because they plan to kill the petrodollar?
(...)
But what would happen if the rest of the world rejected the petrodollar system and adopted a “petrogold” system instead?
 
Zero Hedge
From Petrodollar To Petrogold: The US Is Now Trying To Cut Off Iran’s Access To Gold
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/16/2013 11:48 -0400
The US is moving to broaden its ‘blockade’ efforts of Iran to the movement of pure gold into the Islamic Republic. The US-led embargo of Iranian crude succeeded in slowing the flow of petrodollars into the nation but as Foreign Affairs committee chairman Edward Cohen remarked, there is “no question that there is gold going from Turkey to Iran.” While the official line from US elite such as Bernanke remains that ‘gold is not money’ it appears that increasingly other nations would disagree, as Cohen admitted, “in large measure what we’re seeing is private Iranian citizens buying gold as a protection against the falling value of Iran’s currency.” It would seem somewhat self-evident that the US is admitting, by attempting to embargo this gold flow, that outside the US, the Dollar is becoming increasingly irrelevant (see China’s gold demand); and that for many countries the petrodollar no longer exists, having been replaced by ‘Petrogold’.