1st Summit of the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries late 2011 in Doha
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The Forum of Gas Exporting Countries (GECF) decided Thursday to hold its first summit in Qatar in November 2011 and reiterated its call for a fair price for natural gas.
- The announcement was made after a ministerial meeting in Doha of the major gas producers, including the Russian giants, Iran and Qatar.
- In their final communiqué, the ministers expressed their concern about the current prices of gas which "undermine investment in new fields and gas infrastructure," while emphasizing that prices should reflect parity with oil.
- "Hopefully we can control the price of gas," said Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah Al-Attiyah. "But who can control oil prices or those of gold?" He asked.
- Participants appointed the Egyptian Energy Minister Sameh Fahmi, new President of GECF and convened their next ministerial conference for June 2 in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt).
- They pledged to cooperate closely to establish a stable and transparent gas market.
- But the Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, whose country is the largest producer with 30% of world reserves of natural gas, has expressed his opposition to any restriction of production to raise prices.
- "Search for a fair price does not mean establish quotas for production of natural gas," he said, saying "more important to develop mechanisms for cooperation between producers, transit countries and consumers".
- "To encourage the consumption of natural gas, a clean energy source, we need long-term contracts as we need stability in supply and demand," said the secretary general of GECF, Lounid Boukhanovski.
- Referring to the means of transporting gas from producer to consumer, especially in Europe, he mentioned a project to link Nigeria to Europe. "We are studying the possibility of constructing a gas pipeline linking Nigeria to Europe."
- The Algerian Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi stressed that the formula for long-term contracts "gave satisfaction to both producers and consumers."
- "We do not think it appropriate to change this formula," he added.
- Gas prices are determined either by long-term contracts between sellers and buyers, or on the spot market.
- Global demand fell 2.1% in 2009 due to the global financial crisis, according to a report from the International Energy Forum and the International Union for the gas industry that the industry would require investments of some 7,100 billion dollars during the next 25 years.
- Ennaharonline/ M. O.
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