ALGERIA - Towards A Gas Cartel?Visiting Qatar for the first time, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 12 proposed a grouping of natural gas exporters. Qatar's 2nd Deputy PM and Minister of Industry and Energy Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah previously dismissed the possibility of establishing a gas bloc similar to OPEC OPEC: see Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC in full Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Multinational organization established in 1960 to coordinate the petroleum production and export policies of its . But Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah ayatollah: see Shiites. ayatollah In the Shiite branch of Islam, a high-ranking religious authority regarded by his followers as the most learned person of his age. The ayatollah's authority rests on the infallible imam. Khamenei was recently quoted as saying Iran and Russia could start up a gas exporting group like OPEC based on their command of the world's largest natural gas reserves. Russian officials have repeatedly denied they have any plan to form a cartel, saying it is undesirable and impractical im·prac·ti·cal adj. 1. Unwise to implement or maintain in practice: Refloating the sunken ship proved impractical because of the great expense. 2. , while Russian gas monopoly Gazprom says its long-term contracts make such a suggestion implausible im·plau·si·ble adj. Difficult to believe; not plausible. im·plau  si·bil . Russia's Economic Development and Industry and Energy
Ministries see no economic justification for Khamenei's suggestion
to create an international gas cartel. Russian officials say Moscow
should be guided by demand alone, and should not co-ordinate its actions
with anyone.
One Russian official was in late January 2007 quoted as saying: "Why should we undertake commitments to synchronise Verb 1. synchronise - happen at the same time contemporise, contemporize, synchronize hap, happen, occur, come about, take place, go on, pass off, fall out, pass - come to pass; "What is happening?"; "The meeting took place off without an incidence"; our actions, why force ourselves into regulation frameworks which could boil down boil 1 v. boiled, boil·ing, boils v.intr. 1. a. To change from a liquid to a vapor by the application of heat: to setting quotas?" Qatar's Attiyah attributed the reasons why he dismissed such gas grouping to the fact that gas contracts differed completely from crude oil contracts, especially that gas deals were long term and may extend for 25 years, while crude oil is sold and bought daily. |
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