GECF focuses on ties, not cartel

Gas producing nations want tighter cooperation, but their interests are too diverse and the market too fragmented to form a cartel...

Gas producing nations want tighter cooperation, but their interests are too diverse and the market too fragmented to form a cartel, energy ministers said ahead of the first meeting of its kind in two years.

Wide-spread speculation that the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is about to establish the gas equivalent of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been repeatedly knocked down since Iran’s supreme leader rekindled the controversy in January.

Even the suggestion of such a grouping has alarmed European countries.

Story continues below this ad

Their dependence on leading gas exporter Russia and vulnerability to export disruptions was underlined last year when supplies were cut during one of the coldest winters on record, as Moscow disputed prices with Ukraine.

Ahead of Monday’s ministerial session in Doha, Qatar, energy ministers said they had no plans to fix prices at consumers’ expense.

“We do not, and will not, set ourselves the goal of ganging up on anybody. It would be destructive and it would make no sense at all,” said Viktor Khristenko, energy minister of Russia.

“We view this meeting as another step towards creating an effective energy dialogue to reduce the risks in relations between consumers and suppliers. We want this organisation to form part of the global energy dialogue,” he said in Moscow, before leaving for Doha.

Story continues below this ad

The forum was formed in 2001 and is responsible for around 60 percent of world gas exports, but has been viewed by analysts as a talking shop. Other ministers said the possibility of the group becoming an OPEC was impractical as gas producing nations each look to supply to different regions of the world and set prices for long-term contracts on the basis of oil.