Gas exporting states meet in Russia to form club
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
MOSCOW, Dec 23 (AFP): Ministers from gas-exporting countries were meeting in Moscow today to put the finishing touches to their new club, amid Western fears the group could act as the gas equivalent of the OPEC oil cartel.
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) groups Russia, the world's biggest gas producer, with other gas-rich states such as Iran and Qatar and 11 other gas-exporting countries.
But officials have been at pains to emphasise that the purpose of the annual meeting is to finalise and approve a charter for the body rather than create a cartel to fix prices.
"I emphasise that we have no intention of creating a cartel of producers," Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said in an interview with the government daily Rossiskaya Gazeta on Monday.
"Our aim is to guarantee an indispensible equilibium between gas suppliers and to coordinate policies between consumer and producer countries."
At the meeting, "we are thinking about the way to establish the 'rules of the game'," he said.
Initial meetings opened at 0700 GMT at an upscale Moscow hotel and the participants were later due to meet Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin before a news conference by energy ministers at 1530 GMT.
Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet regularly to agree their production quotas in order to influence the price of crude oil on global markets.
But ministers, as well as analysts, agree that a cartel for natural gas makes far less sense.
Gas exports generally require the construction of capital- intensive pipelines and contracts are signed over long-term periods.
Oil exports on the other hand are generally based on a spot market price to the barrel for delivery within relatively short timeframes.
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) groups Russia, the world's biggest gas producer, with other gas-rich states such as Iran and Qatar and 11 other gas-exporting countries.
But officials have been at pains to emphasise that the purpose of the annual meeting is to finalise and approve a charter for the body rather than create a cartel to fix prices.
"I emphasise that we have no intention of creating a cartel of producers," Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said in an interview with the government daily Rossiskaya Gazeta on Monday.
"Our aim is to guarantee an indispensible equilibium between gas suppliers and to coordinate policies between consumer and producer countries."
At the meeting, "we are thinking about the way to establish the 'rules of the game'," he said.
Initial meetings opened at 0700 GMT at an upscale Moscow hotel and the participants were later due to meet Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin before a news conference by energy ministers at 1530 GMT.
Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet regularly to agree their production quotas in order to influence the price of crude oil on global markets.
But ministers, as well as analysts, agree that a cartel for natural gas makes far less sense.
Gas exports generally require the construction of capital- intensive pipelines and contracts are signed over long-term periods.
Oil exports on the other hand are generally based on a spot market price to the barrel for delivery within relatively short timeframes.