Iran to swap gas with Russia, Qatar

press tv
Sun, 11 Jan 2009 07:30:48 GMT

Iran says it will discuss swapping natural gas with Russia and Qatar at
an upcoming meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).

Speaking to Dow Jones Newswires, Iran’s OPEC Governor Mohammad-Ali
Khatibi said "gas swaps" will be the issue of discussion for the troika
at the next GECF meeting.

Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari touched on the issue on
Saturday, saying that Tehran-Moscow talks are underway to finalize a
gas swap deal.

Analysts believe the current gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine,
which led to a halt in Russian supplies to Europe, has prompted Moscow
to seek alternative routes for its gas exports.

Swaps are agreements by which a country can supply goods to another in
exchange for the latter giving the equivalent to a third party.

The world’s biggest gas exporters officially formed an organization in
a December meeting in Moscow, where the member states adopted a charter
for the GECF.

Iran, Qatar and Russia — holders of the world’s largest gas reserves
— have separately created a ‘gas troika’ to expand trilateral gas
cooperation and implement joint projects.

Khatibi reiterated that the newly formed organization was "dedicated to
technical cooperation", dismissing concerns that the gas forum would be
similar to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress