IRAN - Gas Exporters Group.

At a meeting in Doha, Qatar, on April 9-10, the 12-state Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), holding more than 70% of the world's natural gas reserves, agreed to set up a high-powered study group to examine tighter co-operation and pricing agreements (see news16-GasGrouping&MEexplosionsApr16-07).

Ben Hollins, head of Edinburgh-based Wood Mackenzie, says the question of how the GECF might seek to leverage its increase in market power should be a concern for IOCs, adding: "The real issue is the risk that greater co-operation, in terms of technology transfers as well as access to reserves and capital, between national oil and gas companies in these countries could restrict the opportunity set for the international oil and gas companies going forward". He says it is unclear whether any potential to influence the global gas trade will trigger a political reaction from consuming states sensitive to OPEC's influence over oil supply and price. "While [it] would not operate in the same way as OPEC, it could nevertheless have a material impact on future global gas market dynamics".

Others query the logic behind a cartel set-up as gas prices in most cases are governed by individual, long-term agreements not conducive to liquid trading. States which participated in the Doha event included Algeria, Bolivia (observer), Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway (observer), Qatar, Russia, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkmenistan (observer), the UAE and Venezuela.

Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh on April 10 said: "The [Doha] meeting was the best of its kind. Given the strong presence of Russia and welcome from other gas exporting states, there is a ground for optimism". The 7th GECF will be hosted by Moscow in 2008. Vaziri said: "Receiving the [gas OPEC] ideas of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei through [Russian] Security Council chief Igor Ivanov, Russia is now serious about the formation of a gas exporting states body as it dispatched its energy minister to Qatar and proposed to host the next forum and the proposal was approved by the member-states".