RUSSIA, IRAN AND QATAR AGREE TO FORM AN OPEC-STYLE GAS CARTEL

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.10.2008 17:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ World gas powers Russia, Iran and Qatar pledged
on Tuesday to strengthen cooperation and Tehran said there was a
consensus to form an OPEC-style grouping, comments likely to worry
Western consumer nations.

Iran’s Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said he and Qatar’s Energy
Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah and Chief Executive Alexei Miller of
Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom agreed to establish a high-ranking
natural gas committee.

Unlike Nozari, Miller did not refer to a "gas OPEC" at a joint news
conference but said the three sides had set up a "major gas troika"
that would help implement joint projects.

Russia, Iran and Qatar are ranked the first, second and third biggest
holders of natural gas reserves in the world and together boast more
than half of the global total.

"We have made major decisions," Nozari said after talks in the Iranian
capital. "There is a demand to form this gas OPEC and there is a
consensus to set up gas OPEC."

Major gas exporters have met informally for several years at the annual
Gas Exporting Countries Forum, a grouping including also Venezuela,
Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia and Libya.

Iran wants to turn it into a more formal organization akin to the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the 13-member
cartel which makes output decisions that can sway the oil price.

Europe and the United States have warned against such a gas export
body, saying it could pose a danger to global energy security and
create room for price manipulation.

Gazprom has previously played down the idea of a gas OPEC, saying
it was not feasible. But Miller told Tuesday’s news conference:
"We have decided to be in close contact and we can say that today a
major gas troika was formed."

Some analysts say any gas OPEC could be expected to share insights on
upstream contract terms with investors rather than act on restricting
gas supply as the oil OPEC does.

"Surely this gathering of gas exporting countries is to give assurances
over gas supply to the world," said Miller, whose country is the
world’s largest natural gas exporter, Reuters reports.