The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) has just finished its work in Qatar's capital Doha. Russia was represented by a high-ranking delegation headed by Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko and Gazprom CEO Alexander Miller.
Participants in the forum discussed coordination of gas production and supplies. The main intrigue was the prospect of forming an OPEC-style gas cartel.
The very first day of the forum made it clear that active work on setting up a gas cartel was underway although no documents to this effect were going to be signed. After the forum, Khristenko said that participants in the meeting have decided to establish a high-profile group to deal with gas prices. Although gas exporters have not yet gone for a cartel, their agreement to control and coordinate price formation is a step towards OPEC's gas counterpart.
The GECF nations will take their next step to the cartel on Russian territory. They will meet for their seventh forum in Moscow in 2008. Khristenko said the forum made this decision at Russia's proposal. He noted that Russia will coordinate a high-profile price-forming group. This means that Russia will lead gas exporters to unity, and this is only fair considering that it can add geopolitical weight to the future alliance.
The idea of a gas OPEC has dominated the politicized debates on global energy problems, all the more so after President Vladimir Putin said during his first visit to Qatar in February 2007: "Whether we need it and whether we will build it, is a separate subject, but gas producers must coordinate their actions." Later on, the leaders of all major gas producers that possess 70% of its world reserves supported this idea in different forms.
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