About GECF - Gas OPEC

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About GECF - Gas OPEC

Gas exporters will meet in Tehran on 28-th of April to debate the statute of an organization for gas exporting states, said Valerie Yazov, head of the Russian Gas Association.

It looks like Putin again threatens the US with the establishment of a gas cartel amongst the 15 GECF members, in order to try to restore the phase of the "European" negotiation with the US, when meetings of the trio Putin-Chirac-Schroeder were currently held.

If Bush will behave well and will negotiate with Putin for the acceptance in the EU of the socialist system, backed by economical dependence of some EU states on the Russian gas, the things will go smooth and the gas OPEC will not be legally created, hence Russia will not rise gas prices very much if the US will be cooperative and the negotiation on Europe will take place.

If Bush will oppose to the presence of Russia in Europe, like he did by now, Putin will continue to threaten with the creation of the gas OPEC.

Russia will go step by step and will first propose the creation of IANNGO, which is a diluted version of the GECF, nongovernmental vs. intergovernmental.

~Vera

DEFINITIONS:

1) GEFC

GECF = Gas Exporting Countries Forum

The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is an organization of world's leading gas producers, which was established in Tehran in 2001. The aims of the GECF are:

to foster the concept of mutuality of interests by favouring dialogue between producers, between producers and consumers and between governments and energy-related industries;

to provide a platform to promote study and exchange of views;

to promote a stable and transparent energy market.

The GECF has no official statute or charter.

The forum doesn't have fixed membership structure, however Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad & Tobago, the UAE and Venezuela could be identified as current members.


Turkmenistan, Bolivia, Indonesia, Libya and Oman have participated at different ministerial meetings. Norway has status of observer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_Exporting_Countries_Forum

2) IANNGO

IANNGO = The International Alliance of Nongovernmental Natural Gas Organizations.

The IANNGO, in the conception of its organizers, would "create condition for the just distribution of income from the export of gas between producers and countries that transport gas, and form common investment sources for the development of the gas industry."

The main difference between IANNGO and GECF is that the former will unite "nongovernmental gas organizations and leading gas companies of the countries producing and transporting natural gas," while the latter is an intergovernmental structure.

http://www.kommersant.com/p884944/r_528/natural_gas_supplies/

MAIN QUOTES:

"The main difference between IANNGO and GECF is that the former will unite "nongovernmental gas organizations and leading gas companies of the countries producing and transporting natural gas," while the latter is an intergovernmental structure." - Kommersant

"There were two draft charters, a 'tough' one designed by Iran, and Russia's 'more delicate' version. Iran has proposed to regulate the functioning and principles of a gas equivalent of OPEC, while Russia's draft envisages fixing gas pricing mechanisms and gas transit routs." - RIA Novosti

"A senior Russian Industry and Energy official told Kommersant it was not clear whether the emergence of the cartel would be announced at the Moscow forum." - RIA Novosti

"Strategically, it is important for Russia not to overdo with the talk about a gas cartel. The emergence of an influential union of gas producers may seriously upset the balance of forces and interests, and become a reason for major conflicts and confrontation between energy producers and consumers." - RIA Novosti - 11/ 04/ 2007

"As soon as Russia announced South Stream, Iran said it was ready to become the resource base for Nabucco and began making bilateral contracts for gas delivery to the EU on the Transadriatic Gas Pipeline from Turkey to Greece and, eventually, to Italy," - Kommersant


"Russia holds the world's largest gas reserves (47.8 billion cubic meters), followed by Iran (26.7 billion cubic meters) and Qatar (23.7 billion cubic meters)." -Asia Times Online

"Russia controls no less than 21.6% of the world's natural-gas production, well ahead of Algeria (3.2%), Iran (3.1%), Indonesia (2.8%) and Malaysia (2.2%). Russia above all wants to become a huge global exporter: for the moment it exports only a third of its production. Iran, incredible as it might seem, imports more from Turkmenistan than it exports to Turkey - because of investment problems. Like Russia, Iran's aim is to become a major global exporter." - Asia Times Online

"In May 2006, Gazprom deputy chairman Aleksandr Medvedev had thrown a news bomb, saying that if Russia didn't get a good energy deal with the European Union it would create "an alliance of gas suppliers more influential than OPEC"." - Asia Times Online

"Russia wants to concentrate on Europe. But the Europeans would do anything to diversify their sources, so Iran, in the end, will also be the winner." - Asia Times Online

"It would all depend on a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear dossier - which is in the interests of the gas-hungry European Union. Diplomats in Brussels never stop swearing that the EU's ultimate fear is to become a hostage to Russia's energy policy. The alternative supplier is definitely Iran." - Asia Times Online

"Until Russia completes the North European Gas Pipeline, which will pump gas directly to Germany, and establishes its own liquefied natural gas facilities, it will remain dependent on transit countries for gas exports. At the same time, it is a transit country for Central Asian gas going to Europe. Given such circumstances, it is difficult to discuss a coordinated pricing policy following the OPEC model." - RIA Novosti

Iran's proven natural gas reserves total over 28 trillion cubic meters. In 2006, gas production in the republic was 105 billion cu m, with consumption standing at 105.1 billion cu m. - RIA Novosti

Gazprom plans to join the Green Stream project (50% owned by Italy's Eni), which is to link Africa and Europe (from Libya to Sicily), and is considering the option of a gas pipeline to run in parallel. - RIA Novosti

Mikhail Korchemkin, director of East European Gas Analysis, said that Gazprom's segment of global gas output would fall from 19% in 2007 to 13% in 2030. "Gazprom can keep its influence on world markets only by selling gas produced in other countries," he said. "Libya is therefore interesting to it not only as a tappable resource, but perhaps also as a transit country for the Trans-Saharan gas pipeline from Nigeria, which has more proven reserves than Turkmenistan." - RIA Novosti

Analysts say that the agreements Gazprom reached in Libya could set the European community seriously agog, worried as it is by Gazprom's growing international stance. "Gazprom's participation in the Libyan gas projects will enable it to enter south European markets, where its holding is as yet weak," - RIA Novosti

"Gazprom and Algeria's Sonatrach signed a memorandum of understanding calling for coordinated gas prices." -Asia Times Online

By 2008, Qatar will be the world's premier supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG). - Asia Times Online


SEE ALSO: Iran again in the Spotlight
http://putinfreakshow.blogspot.com/2008/04/iran-again-in-spotlight.html

From Wikipedia:

Quote:

"Since the establishment of the GECF in 2001, there has always been speculation, particularly in Europe, that the world's largest producers of natural gas, in particular Russia and Iran, intend to create a gas cartel equivalent to OPEC which would set quotas and prices.

The idea of a gas OPEC was first floated by Russian President Vladimir Putin and backed by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev in 2002. In May 2006 Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev threatened that Russia would create "an alliance of gas suppliers that will be more influential than OPEC" if Russia did not get its way in energy negotiations with Europe."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_Exporting_Countries_Forum#Membership


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Full-length articles:


Gas exporters to meet in Tehran tomorrow

Date: Sunday, April 27, 2008
Source: IranOilGas.com
Tehran is hosting the gas exporting countries forum, at experts’ level, on coming Monday 28 April 2008. According to an official of Iran’s oil ministry, the forum will be debating the structure of the organization of gas exporting countries, reported the local news agencies. He said the Tehran forum will not be attended by any ministers.
Valerie Yazov, head of the Russian Gas Association, had lately said the ministers of gas exporting countries would be meeting in Tehran to debate the statute of an organization for gas exporting states.

http://www.iranoilgas.com/news/details2/?type=news&p=current&newsID=1953&restrict=no


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Russia Takes a Charter to Iran

Kommersant has learned that, during a session of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Tehran on April 28, Russia will present a draft charter for that organization, which it has long dreamed of turning into a "gas OPEC."
Moscow's formulation of the tasks and goals of the GECF is softer than Iran's proposal, which was similar to the charter of OPEC.
The organization is to become an international platform for the development of a formula for the price of gas and discussion of routes for new pipelines.
Experts say it will be hard for the potential participants in the gas OPEC to agree among themselves. That means that the June forum in Moscow may not be a success.
Russian-Style CartelA source in the Russian government told Kommersant that a draft charter of the GECF was sent to the appropriate agencies of the 15 member states late last week. According to the source, the document was authored by the Ministry of Industry and Energy and Gazprom at the end of last year and spent three months being conciliated in the ministries. A Gazprom spokesman confirmed on Friday that "A draft charter is being discussed. It is to be considered at the next ministerial session of the GECF." The charter is the first in the process started last autumn of turning the GECF from an amorphous entity into a powerful gas suppliers' lobby along the lines of OPEC.According to information obtained by Kommersant, the draft charter will be presented by Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy Anatoly Yanovsky at a high-level GECF committee session in Tehran on April 28. Yanovsky himself declined to comment.
Another Kommersant informant commented that the nature of its developers shaped the nature of the document, which proposes the necessity of creating an international platform for development of a universal formula for the price of gas, the use of spot deliveries with the goal compensating for shortages of volume in the course of fulfilling long-term contracts, determination of the expediency of the construction of new gas pipelines taking account of the forecast risk."The GECF was first held in Tehran in 2001. He does not have a charter, exact membership system or permanent representation in any country. Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela continually take part in GECF sessions, and Turkmenistan has participated in some. Norway is considered an observer.
The official goal of the organization is the development of mutual understanding between producers and consumers and governments and industrial sectors connected with energy and the creation of a stable and transparent fuel market. At the last forum, in Doha, the GECF member states agreed to form a committee on a high level that would meet every two months to discuss gas trade issues. It was also decided that the next forum would meet in Moscow in 2008.A Gazprom spokesman explained that details on the platform for dialog are still "in the discussion stage."
Apparently, Moscow is expecting members of the transformed GECF to coordinate gas prices and agree on the routes of new gas pipelines. Gazprom and the Ministry of Industry and Energy deny that there will be nay analogy between GECF and OPEC, however. "We do not need a cartel agreement," the source claimed.Moderation Moscow-StyleApparently, Moscow's current initiative is a response to a proposal for the future of the GECF made by Iran at the end of last year.
Sources in the Russian government and Gazprom told Kommersant that the Iranian draft charter was largely copied from that of OPEC. The document proposed by Tehran was examined by the Russian ministries, but many of them gave it a negative assessment. The Russian Foreign Ministry was especially critical of it. Russian diplomats pointed out that support of the initiative would have a number of negative political consequences.The Foreign Ministry's was correct in its conclusions. In the West, conversations over the creation of a "gas OPEC" stir up strong reactions.
In April of last year, a week before the GECF session in Doha, the deputy chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice vigorously demanding that she "make clear to all concerned that any movement to establish yet another menace to the world's energy supplies will have sharply negative consequences for all of those involved."
Ros-Lehtinen's call was supported by many in Congress and official spokesmen of the State Department and White House made a number of strongly-worded statements about a "gas OPEC." The European Union was no less categorical. Not wanting to anger its partners needlessly, Russia has decided to tone down the rhetoric and get rid of the unwanted analogy between the future "gas OPEC" and the oil cartel.At the same time, Moscow has begun a project that could be an effective supplement to GECF, the International Alliance of Nongovernmental Natural Gas Organizations.
That name was first heard of at the end of 2006, from the Russian Natural Gas Society, the main lobbyist for Gazprom, headed by State Duma member Valery Yazev.
The IANNGO, in the conception of its organizers, would "create condition for the just distribution of income from the export of gas between producers and countries that transport gas, and form common investment sources for the development of the gas industry." The main difference between IANNGO and GECF is that the former will unite "nongovernmental gas organizations and leading gas companies of the countries producing and transporting natural gas," while the latter is an intergovernmental structure.The IANNGO project has been developing rapidly in recent years. At the beginning of April, the charter of the organization was presented to the parliamentary session of the Eurasian Economic Community.
Belarus already supports the Russian initiative, which is sufficient to register it. Kazakhstan is waiting and Uzbekistan is considering it.
"During the GECF in Moscow this June, we plan to present the IANNGO project as a platform for the settlement of problems among the gas business, consumers and the bodies of authority," Russian Natural Gas Society vice president Oleg Zhilin told Kommersant.
"We are frequently asked whether such states as Algeria, Qatar, Libya, Iran and Venezuela can become members of IANNGO.
The answer is unambiguous. They can. It is unimportant how developed their democratic institutions are."Opposition Libyan-StyleKommersant sources in government agencies were unwilling to predict which of the two competing draft GECF charters would be approved at the June forum, if they cannot be conciliated. There are abundant signs that the members of that organization have varying interests and differing expectations of it. For example, last week, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi stated at a lunch honoring Russian President Vladimir Putin that Tripoli supports "the idea of creating an organization of gas producing and exporting countries on the model of OPEC." Gaddafi also stated what he expected from the new organization. Its members "should help countries suffering from soaring oil prices, especially African countries."The likelihood of creating a natural gas analog to OPEC is viewed skeptically by experts. Vladimir Milov, president of the Institute for Energy Policy, explains that, in the next ten years, producers and consumers of natural gas will be linked by direct pipelines that, as a rule, will not intersect. "Qatar is the leading supplier to the United States and Great Britain, and Algeria to Spain and Italy. They cannot substitute each other's deliveries," Milov said. Moreover, according to Milov, competition is mounting for transit routes. "As soon as Russia announced South Stream, Iran said it was ready to become the resource base for Nabucco and began making bilateral contracts for gas delivery to the EU on the Transadriatic Gas Pipeline from Turkey to Greece and, eventually, to Italy," Milov noted. "The competitors cannot seriously be expected to conciliate routes between themselves."Milov thinks such associations are only "political dances and PR" without a united Political base. "Russia and Iran are not leaders within the gas forum. Qatar is friendly to the U.S. and will not make intrigues with Russian or Iranian sponsorship," he said. "In addition, Tehran, which preaches the Shia religion, is not trusted by the majority of Sunni gas exporting states in the Middle East. Russia, as a non-Muslim country, also has little trust in the region. Unlike them, Sunni Saudi Arabia is the political leader of the Middle East."Mikhail Korchemkin, director of the U.S. firm East European Gas Analysis thinks that the formation of a "gas OPEC" and cartel price control would push EU consumers to refuse natural gas and turn to alternative fuels. "Every announcement of reduced deliveries of gas to Ukraine or Belarus drive up demand for heating oil sharply in Europe," he explained. "I hope that the gas OPEC' will cause revolutionary changes in new sources of energy and the economy of energy usage." Korchemkin thinks that, in that case, natural gas will be left as only a raw material for petrochemistry and fertilizer, and fall in price, as coal did between the two world wars.
Natalia Grib, Andrey Odinets

http://www.kommersant.com/p884944/natural_gas_supplies/


Gas exporters to meet in Tehran on April 28

21:23 24/ 04/ 2008
MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - An alliance of the world's leading gas producers will hold a ministerial meeting in Tehran on April 28, the head of Russia's Gas Society said on Thursday.
"The Gas Exporting Countries Forum will hold a ministerial meeting in Iran's capital on April 28, where the charter of the so-called gas 'OPEC' will be discussed," Valery Yazev said.
He said there were two draft charters, a 'tough' one designed by Iran, and Russia's 'more delicate' version. Iran has proposed to regulate the functioning and principles of a gas equivalent of OPEC, while Russia's draft envisages fixing gas pricing mechanisms and gas transit routs.
"We should build an alliance of gas producers to formulate fair trading rules," Yazev said.
"Gas prices will not change, because they depend on the competitive situation with other energy prices," he said in an attempt to alleviate opponents' fears that a gas cartel will change radically the situation on the global markets.
The idea of establishing a gas OPEC was put forward by Russian President Vladimir Putin and has always been supported by Iranian officials.
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) first held a meeting in Tehran in 2001. The organization has not yet adopted a charter and lacks a strict membership system. However, it involves Venezuela, Iran, Libya, the UAE and Russia, and a number of other countries. Norway has the status of an observer.

other articles
19:59 14/04/2008 Iran and Russia need not fight for gas market
11:41 24/01/2008 'Gas OPEC' could be established in June - paper
17:24 13/04/2007 Gas cartel looking more attractive
12:14 11/04/2007 Will there be a gas OPEC?

http://en.rian.ru/business/20080424/105851967.html

The Roving Eye
Who profits from a gas OPEC?

by Asia TimesBy Pepe Escobar
Apr 11, 2007
DOHA and DAMASCUS -

Four years after the fall of Baghdad - which for the neo-cons would signal the advent of the US as "the new OPEC" - a meeting in the tiny Gulf emirate of Qatar may be signaling the birth of a new cartel: a "gas OPEC", grouping countries controlling 73% of the world's gas reserves and 42% of production. It's not as simple as it seems, because a gas cartel along the lines of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is above all a brilliant political idea - an astute exercise in (new) branding. The irony is that in this case the wealthy West - so keen on branding when it comes to soft drinks and TVs - has been shaken to the core.
Doha could not be a more adequate venue for this crucial meeting of the soon-to-be-rebranded Gas Exporting Countries Forum - an organization founded in 2001. By 2008, Qatar will be the world's premier supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
It already boasts the highest per capita income in the Middle East. Official spin rules that the emirate is "carefully investing" no less than US$130 billion over the next five to seven years to build a "dynamic and sustainable economy". Iraqis about to be "liberated" from their oil wealth have every reason to be jealous, not to mention the array of gas-deprived developing countries. Members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum include Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Norway is an observer.
The founding fathers of the gas OPEC would be Russia, Iran, Qatar, Venezuela and Algeria. All their political leaders are in favor - from Vladimir Putin to Mahmud Ahmadinejad, from Hugo Chavez to Abdelaziz Bouteflika. That's what sends shivers down the spines of the United States and the European Union - testy Putin and favorite bogeymen du jour Chavez and Ahmadinejad laying down the law in yet another powerful club. Russia holds the world's largest gas reserves (47.8 billion cubic meters), followed by Iran (26.7 billion cubic meters) and Qatar (23.7 billion cubic meters). But production is another matter. According to 2005 data, Russia controls no less than 21.6% of the world's natural-gas production, well ahead of Algeria (3.2%), Iran (3.1%), Indonesia (2.8%) and Malaysia (2.2%). Russia above all wants to become a huge global exporter: for the moment it exports only a third of its production. Iran, incredible as it might seem, imports more from Turkmenistan than it exports to Turkey - because of investment problems. Like Russia, Iran's aim is to become a major global exporter. No wonder Iran, with the world's second-largest gas reserves and desperately needing to export more, has vividly recommended to Russia the creation of a gas OPEC. Unlike the oil market, in gas matters there is no price coordination: prices are individually negotiated - for as long as five years per contract - between buyer and producer. Buyers - overwhelmingly from wealthy Western nations - usually have the upper hand. A gas OPEC makes total sense for producing countries in terms of a swift counterpunch to the West's economic might. As far as Iran is concerned, it's strategically fundamental: it would open the way for a much stronger presence in Asian and European markets, and it would improve its security and power of dissuasion. To cut to the chase: with Iran in a gas OPEC, no Western nation would dream of supporting a US preemptive strike. Easier said than done. Qatar may be in favor but as it is in fact little other than a US military base, Washington would never agree to its membership in a gas cartel. Moreover, Qatar already ships a lot of LNG to the US. Even before the meeting, Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told Reuters in Abu Dhabi: "We do not see the need for the creation of a gas organization because the issue of gas is more complex." Turkmenistan's case, for that matter, is quite complex - as the Central Asia gas republic's natural wealth is actually exported through Russian pipelines. There's no inkling on the intentions of Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the successor to the recently deceased Saparmurat Niyazov "Turkmenbashi", who reigned absolute-monarch-style for 21 years.
A Russian-Iranian game It is widely assumed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei formally proposed the creation of a gas OPEC to the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Igor Ivanov, last January in Tehran. But the fact is, a gas OPEC has always been a Gazprom-nation initiative. It was not Iran, but Vladimir Putin himself - supported by the Central Asian republics - who first came up with the idea of a gas OPEC, way back in 2002. Obviously all major Western corporations were against it.
Lately, Putin has been much more cautious. In his annual Kremlin press conference on February 1, he said on the record that he did not want to see a gas OPEC controlling production to influence gas prices; he was more interested in "cooperation" to help the security of supplies. This happened after May 2006, when Gazprom deputy chairman Aleksandr Medvedev had thrown a news bomb, saying that if Russia didn't get a good energy deal with the European Union it would create "an alliance of gas suppliers more influential than OPEC".

In August, this "alliance of gas suppliers" was already in business - as Gazprom and Algeria's Sonatrach signed a memorandum of understanding calling for coordinated gas prices. It's practically inevitable that Gazprom and Sonatrach will market their gas together in Europe - and that certainly opens the way to a gas OPEC. What EU officials who keep complaining about the "lack of transparency" of Russia's gas strategy really wanted was to see Sonatrach involved in a price war with Gazprom, so in the end the Europeans would dictate their own conditions. Wishful thinking: this is not going to happen. The Nezavissimaya Gazeta daily argues, "More than 57% of the world's gas reserves are concentrated in three countries - Russia, Iran and Qatar. If these states create a cartel, the gas OPEC will be easier to manage than the oil cartel and may in fact have the monopoly on the sector." If that is the case, one should expect an inflation of Putin voodoo dolls. The key reason Putin and the Gazprom nation are so demonized among Western financial/corporate elites is simple. It's called direct marketing - which happens to be yet one more Western concept. Putin does not give a damn about Wall Street or the City of London. He does not give a damn about the US dollar, either (he prefers selling in euros). And he prefers to sell the Gazprom nation's gas contract by contract, and company by company. Russia and Iran united in a gas OPEC royally serves them both. Iran's export way out is first and foremost Asia. Russia wants to concentrate on Europe. But the Europeans would do anything to diversify their sources, so Iran, in the end, will also be the winner. Russian newspaper Vremia Novostiei argues that "an agreement for the formation of a gas OPEC would mean the unequivocal passage of Russia from the status of partner of the West to opposing it, and not only from the point of view of energy". It's not that simple. It would all depend on a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear dossier - which is in the interests of the gas-hungry European Union. Diplomats in Brussels never stop swearing that the EU's ultimate fear is to become a hostage to Russia's energy policy. The alternative supplier is definitely Iran. One thing is certain. Doha signals to the world that the Gas Exporting Countries Forum is no longer a talking shop: now it really means business. "Gas OPEC", as a branding concept, is here to stay. It does not matter that Canada, Norway, the Netherlands and Australia - which combined sell 35% of the gas available in world markets - are not part of it. The idea has been planted - and in this case the idea is far more influential than concrete mechanisms to implement it. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, true to form, had to react with extreme paranoia. Last November, NATO members were "warned" that Russia was fabricating a new, deadly political roadside bomb against Europe, by trying to set up a natural-gas cartel from Algeria to Central Asia. Welcome to the new, Pentagon-inspired, arc of (gas) instability. Who would have thought that branding could become so explosive? Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007). He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com. (Copyright 2007 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

http://209.85.129.104/search?q=cache:sYutQ6fIArsJ:www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/ID11Dj01.html+gas+opec&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ro

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Russia to Propose Gas OPEC Charter

22 April 2008The Moscow TimesRussian proposals to create a "gas OPEC" will come under scrutiny at a meeting of officials from gas-producing countries in Tehran next week, Kommersant reported Monday.Russia wants 15 member states of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum to adopt a charter that will allow them to hammer out a universal pricing formula, coordinate construction of new pipelines and use spot deliveries to compensate for possible shortfalls in long-term supply contracts, the report said, citing a government source. Russia's draft charter is less stringent than a proposal by Iran, Kommersant said.Energy officials representing member countries will meet in Tehran on April 28, the paper said. Ministers from those countries will meet in Moscow in June, it said.Gazprom and the Industry and Energy Ministry drew up the proposals, Kommersant said.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1009/42/362200.htm


'Gas OPEC' could be established in June - paper

11:41 24/ 01/ 2008
MOSCOW, January 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and other major natural gas exporters could announce a cartel similar to OPEC in Moscow in June, a Russian business daily said on Thursday.
Kommersant said, however, citing analysts, that even if the gas cartel was formed it would be unlikely to immediately achieve a comparable level of global influence to that enjoyed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in the oil business due to U.S. and EU opposition.
Members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, which control 73% of the world's gas reserves and 42% of production, held a session in Egypt on Wednesday and plan to discuss a charter of the new international organization based on the principles guiding OPEC at its next session in June, the daily said.
The draft charter was proposed last year by Iran, which has the world's second largest gas reserves and is in need of new export markets, the paper said.
Unlike the oil market, there is currently no price coordination in gas dealings. Prices are individually negotiated for five years per contract between producers and consumers. Membership in a gas cartel would give exporters greater clout and a stronger presence on Asian and European markets.
Russia's Industry and Energy Ministry made changes to the draft charter and submitted it for coordination with other ministries in November after a GECF session in Doha, Qatar, in late October. The Foreign Ministry and Economic Development and Trade Ministry have criticized Iran's draft over negative political consequences it could trigger, the paper said, citing government sources.
Gas producers plan to finally coordinate their positions on the charter in Moscow, which experts quoted by Kommersant warn could trigger fresh tensions in relations between Russia and the United States.
Washington has labeled the brainchild of some of the world's least democratic countries as a security threat and said it was designed for "extortion". The founding fathers of the 'gas OPEC' would be Russia, Iran, Qatar, Venezuela and Algeria.
An analyst with the Troika Dialog investment said an organization of gas exporting states would be created in the next few years, but it would have no major influence on the market due to fierce opposition from the U.S. and Europe.
"The exporters will have to take an evolutionary, rather than a revolutionary, way to the gradual consolidation of efforts," Valery Nesterov told the newspaper.
A senior Russian Industry and Energy official told Kommersant it was not clear whether the emergence of the cartel would be announced at the Moscow forum.
"Talks on a new gas pricing policy have been conducted and producers' and consumers' demands have been coordinated, and recommendations on investment in the gas industry have been discussed," Stanislav Naumov admitted, adding that this did not mean that Iran's proposal enjoyed unequivocal backing.
Russia's gas giant Gazprom has given no official comments on the Iranian initiative, Kommersant said.
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum was set up in 2001. It has no charter, clear membership structure or representation in any country. Its permanent participants include Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Norway is an observer.

19:59 14/04/2008 Iran and Russia need not fight for gas market
11:41 24/01/2008 'Gas OPEC' could be established in June - paper
17:24 13/04/2007 Gas cartel looking more attractive
12:14 11/04/2007 Will there be a gas OPEC?

http://en.rian.ru/business/20080424/105851967.html


Iran and Russia need not fight for gas market
19:59 14/ 04/ 2008

MOSCOW. (Igor Tomberg for RIA Novosti) - Iran has stepped up its diplomatic activity, suggesting that its conflict with the West over its nuclear program is losing momentum, and the use of military force to settle it is no longer the only option.
Americans, who are preparing for presidential elections, are more concerned about Iraq and the mortgage crisis.
But when analyzing the situation from the Russian perspective, we should remember that Iran has added energy to the quiver of its military and political arrows. Its advance to the global gas market could disrupt the current balance of interests there.
Iran is the world's fourth largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, and has the second largest gas reserves after Russia.
In the past few years, a combination of international sanctions and internal technical and political problems have hindered both gas production and development of Iran's energy sector. But surging gas prices have spurred foreign interest in Iranian reserves. Tehran has been pursuing a more energetic gas policy, indicating its readiness to cooperate with the European Union, which, eager to diversify its gas supplies, is increasingly willing to separate political from economic questions in relations with Iran.
Portugal has been negotiating with Iran since 2006. Italy's Edison is discussing supplying Iranian gas to Italy. In mid-March, the Swiss electricity group EGL signed a 25-year contract with the National Iran Gas Export Company (NIGEC) on gas supplies worth $20 billion. Soon after that, Austria's EconGas GmbH signed an agreement on gas deliveries from Iran beginning in 2013.
The Nabucco project, which Europe and the United States view as the main prong in the drive to diversify gas deliveries to the EU, was initially designed to pump gas from Iran's Caspian coast to Europe, bypassing Russia.
Austrian energy concern OMV planned to develop the South Pars gas field in Iran, the largest in the world (with 3,500 trillion cu m, or 123.55 trillion cu f), for the Nabucco pipeline. But it shifted its focus to Azerbaijan when relations between Iran and the United States deteriorated.
Azerbaijan, however, does not have enough gas for the pipeline, which needs at least 30 billion cu m (1.06 trillion cu f) per year to be profitable.
The success of a Russian diplomatic offensive in the Balkans in late February seems finally to have buried the project. Russian officials signed agreements with Bulgaria and Serbia on building a rival pipeline, South Stream, to pump Central Asian gas to Europe.
But the initiators of the Nabucco project have continued to search for alternative gas sources, in particular in Iran.
Aware of its critical importance for Nabucco, Tehran has become more active on the gas market. Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mattaki said during his visit to Bulgaria shortly after Russia and Bulgaria signed the South Stream contract that Iran's involvement in Nabucco was "a possible sphere of cooperation with the EU."
However, Iran would not like Russia to view this as a challenge to its energy strategy in southern Europe. "My words regarding the Nabucco gas pipeline are not spearheaded against a third country," Mattaki added.
Is this so?
Iran's advance to the European gas market and its plans to develop its gas reserves could well disrupt the balance of interests on the market, which European consumers question anyway.
Coupled with U.S. plans for developing Iraqi gas reserves, Iranian gas could provide the requisite supply for the Nabucco project. This may be hypothetical at the moment, but the mere existence of potential gas reserves for the pipeline may encourage Russia to step up the South Stream project.
Iran's contract to deliver gas to Switzerland stipulates the early commissioning of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), a joint project between EGL and Norway's StatoilHydro. In other words, Iranian gas could be delivered to two export pipelines running to Europe: Nabucco and TAP.
This can be interpreted as the struggle for the vast - some say inexhaustible -European gas market. It is true that Europe needs increasing amounts of gas, but it is also working hard and spending mind-boggling sums in an effort to level off its energy balance, cut the share of hydrocarbons in it, and introduce energy-saving technologies. In 10 to 15 years, these efforts and expenses may lead to a drop in gas consumption.
Competition on the gas market will soon affect prices. This group of risks has come to the fore after Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan announced their decision to convert to European gas prices in their contracts with Gazprom. The Russian gas monopoly accepted their prices, although this will inhibit its room for maneuver in the upcoming struggle for gas markets.
Meanwhile, Iran is playing on the EU's desire to ease its dependence on Russia and save money. NIGEC's 25-year contract with Swiss EGL has been assessed at 10-22 billion euros, or 90-200 euros per 1,000 cubic meters (35,300 cu f) of gas. Gazprom sells its gas to Europe at 240 euros and may increase the price to 260 euros by the end of the year.
So far, Iran does not have enough gas to pose a serious threat to Gazprom's position in Europe. The Russian company satisfies as much as 30% of European gas demand (about 150-160 billion cu m, or 5.65 trillion cu f, annually). Considering the combined capacity of Nabucco (31 billion cu m, or 1.09 trillion cu f) and TAP (10-20 billion cu m, or 353-706 billion cu f) and the projects' deadline set for 2012-2013, they are unlikely to radically change the situation on the gas market, although time will be a crucial factor.
On the other hand, signs of improvement in relations with Iran do not mean that the United States has no complaints to Iran. Likewise, Europe has no freedom of choice in the matter, because Washington insists that the Iranian-Swiss gas supply contract be scrutinized for compliance with the provisions of sanctions against Iran. Geneva and other European capitals surely know what this warning means.
This points to one more possible scenario, beneficial to Gazprom: Iran may reroute its gas supplies to China, Pakistan and India. Why should it wait for the United States to change its attitude when there are potential clients in the east with huge energy requirements, who will not be swayed by Washington?
Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora has recently said the country wants Iran to build a gas pipeline to India and plans to resume talks with Pakistan on the natural gas pipeline from Iran. The United States is reportedly against that project, but India intends to ignore its objections.
Iran and Russia should probably not compete against each other but join hands on the gas market. The Iranian president has more than once suggested to his Russian colleague that their countries coordinate their gas policies and possibly divide gas markets. Moreover, there could be an agreement under which Russia will continue to supply gas to Europe, while Iran will export its gas to the east. This would undermine plans to diversify supply to Europe, which heavily depends on the United States.
There is growing evidence of plans to form a gas cartel, not unlike OPEC, at the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Moscow this summer. Iran has drafted the charter of the new organization. Its approval would formalize the many semiformal cartel-type agreements that have allegedly been signed.
Igor Tomberg, Ph.D., is a senior research fellow at the Center for Energy Studies, the Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080414/105045260.html


What I Say, Not What I Do

// The price of the question
Russia has had intentions of forming a natural gas OPEC for several years now. Many attribute the idea to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who, seeing the success of the oil OPEC, was inspired to crease its gas sister. Tehran's plan, which saw the light of day in 2001, was not initially of great interest in Russia. But that changed in a few years. A reform of the natural gas market began in Europe, where Gazprom and the Russian federal budget along with it, derived a significant share of its income. The Europeans for some reasons adamantly refused to let Gazprom at the final consumer and demanded to dismember the monopoly into parts.
That was when Moscow recollected the Iranian ayatollah's idea. A gas OPEC became a symbol the Russian gas industry used to intimidate its uncooperative European partners even as Russian authorities officially disowned all such plans. In 2006, for example, Valery Yazev, main Gazprom lobbyist in the State Duma, threatened that the new gas organization would be more effective and influential than OPEC. At the very same time, Arkady Dvorkovich, head of the expert department of the Russian presidential executive staff, gave assurances that the Kremlin was not going to form any gas OPEC.Meanwhile, relations between Gazprom and the European Union deteriorated sharply and the boogeyman began to take on visible form. At the beginning of last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly supported the idea of an international gas cartel while speaking with the Emir of Qatar. Then Russia got busy with preparations for the forum of gas exporting countries in Doha and even became host of the next forum. Only the most impressionable of American congressmen were frightened by these threats. No one made any serious concessions to Gazprom, even though gas prices rose.Now history has gone so far that Gazprom and the Russian government are writing the charter for a new organization in an urgent rush. The date of the Moscow forum is approaching fast and it is time to have potential projects ready. The most serious problems come up here. Moscow cannot answer the main question – Is the project commercial or political?It is not clear how the new organization can be used to settle economic issues. The main participants in the forum are the current or future competitors with Gazprom in a number of issues – pipeline routes, division of the market for liquefied natural gas, and so on. The formation of a gas OPEC is unlikely to bring political benefits. No one argues the fact that Gazprom has become an important player on the diplomatic field. They await the pronouncements of Gazprom official spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov in Kiev and Tbilisi with as much or more seriousness as they listen to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The level of relations with Ukraine, Georgia and the EU allows us evaluate the effectiveness of "gas diplomacy." Paradoxically, it seems that Russia has the power to ruin the Moscow forum, for only rumors f a gas OPEC are in its interest, not a real organization.
Alexander Gabuev
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 21, 2008
http://www.kommersant.com/p884923/r_520/gas_supplies/


Gas cartel looking more attractive
17:24 13/ 04/ 2007

MOSCOW. (Dr. Sergei Kolchin for RIA Novosti) - The sixth Gas Exporting Countries' Forum, which recently ended in Doha, the capital of Qatar, attracted much more attention than previous meetings.
Before it started, there had been numerous signals that a gas analog of OPEC might be set up.
Contrary to expectations, such an organization did not emerge. But the meeting has nevertheless shown that gas exporting countries are gradually realizing the need for coordinated action instead of mere declarations of cooperation.
Iran was the first to stir up trouble, announcing a proposal for "a gas OPEC" at the end of last year. As with any initiative coming from this most eccentric player on the international stage, it naturally caused a nervous response from the United States and the European Union, which saw the future cartel as an attempt to pressure and blackmail gas consuming countries.
The reaction of other leading exporters - Russia, Qatar, Algeria and Central Asian countries - was cautious at first. This is easy to understand. Until Russia completes the North European Gas Pipeline, which will pump gas directly to Germany, and establishes its own liquefied natural gas facilities, it will remain dependent on transit countries for gas exports. At the same time, it is a transit country for Central Asian gas going to Europe. Given such circumstances, it is difficult to discuss a coordinated pricing policy following the OPEC model.
However, further developments showed that gas exporting countries, despite political and other differences in their development priorities, did not want to reject the possibility of an international gas alliance altogether, at least out of pragmatic economic considerations. So the forum in Doha was intended to resolve a complicated and controversial problem. On the one hand, it was necessary to reassure gas consumers, so forum participants repeatedly emphasized that no analog of OPEC was yet on the table and that none of them was determined to set it up. On the other hand, they recognized the need for mechanisms to coordinate their interests, even if through bilateral and multilateral consultations instead of within a united organization. Time will tell whether the Doha forum has succeeded in this, but some outlines of a coordinated policy of gas exporters can already be seen. They were laid out in documents signed at the forum. The major gas exporting countries, therefore, now have closer positions on creating a gas cartel.
Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko, who headed the Russian delegation at the forum, said that Russia could undertake to draw up regulations and even finance preparations for setting up the cartel. It is no coincidence that the next meeting of gas producing countries will take place in Moscow.
Qatar has also softened its position as regards the gas alliance. In Doha, Russia and Qatar decided to set up a bilateral committee to coordinate the moves of Gazprom and Qatar Petroleum on foreign markets. Prior to the Doha forum, Gazprom held negotiations on the matter in Algeria. The idea of a gas OPEC is winning supporters in Latin America as well, namely, Venezuela and Bolivia.
It is clear that gas exporters are waking up to the need for coordination, especially in their pricing policies. As a result, the forum decided to set up a group to discuss gas prices. International experts believe that the group will most probably try to determine a new way to set prices, eliminating the current gas prices' dependence on oil prices, but it will not regulate prices as toughly as OPEC does.
So the decision is not viewed as a step toward a gas cartel. Coordinating their policies, however, may help exporters unpeg gas prices from prices for crude oil and petrochemicals, which is important for their economic prospects. It will also help them cooperate as equals with the consumers' cartel represented by the International Energy Agency, which makes setting up a producers' cartel more relevant.
An important achievement of the Doha forum was to set up a coordination committee of energy ministers, led by Russia, that would "address the forum's development."
So here are the key results of the forum in Qatar:
Gas exporting countries are realizing the need for coordinated action, which earlier boiled down to nothing more than empty declarations. Moreover, it seems quite possible that energy prices will fall over the next 10-15 years, resulting in losses for gas exporters.
Political sympathies and priorities are giving way to sober economic pragmatism; hence Russia's closer relations in the gas sector with Qatar and Iran.
Russia is regaining its traditional dominant role in the global gas alliance (it controls over 25% of the world's gas reserves), especially as pressure from the West mounts. But it will be difficult to maintain that role because it depends on supplying gas along previously created routes and because of strained relations with some ex-Soviet countries.
Under these circumstances, the setup of a gas OPEC looks like a remote prospect. However, the positions of gas exporting countries are getting closer and they already have common views, especially on coordinated pricing policies.
Although a gas cartel did not emerge in Doha, preparations for one did begin. Some international experts estimate that the share of gas in the energy balance will grow, which will increase gas exporters' importance for the global economy. Russia can play a special part here, and it is interested in close contacts with other leading gas exporters. The process of moving closer together is already under way.
Dr. Sergei Kolchin is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Economics, the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070413/63609379.html


-----------------------------
Will there be a gas OPEC?
12:14 11/ 04/ 2007

MOSCOW. (Igor Tomberg for RIA Novosti) - 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.
Response of consumers, primarily the United States and Western Europe is predictably negative. In early April, the House of the U.S. Congress asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "The creation of this cartel would pose a major and long-term threat to the world's energy supply," said Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "We must vigorously oppose the establishment of this global extortion and racket."
Europe is particularly worried about the plan to set up a cartel. This is only natural - in the estimate of leading research centers, gas consumption will be going up in long-term perspective. The latest forecasts predict that by 2020, gas consumption in Europe may approximate 640 billion cubic meters. At the same time, there is an obvious trend to reduce domestic production, which will make Europe even more dependent on imports. In the cautious estimate of E.ON Ruhrgas that has studied then already signed contracts, by 2020 the European Union may be short of 140 billion cubic meters of gas.
But it would not be entirely correct to reduce the whole problem to higher gas prices. Many European and other experts deny the link between the would-be union of gas suppliers and price hikes. First, most gas supplies in the world are carried out under long-term contracts where prices on gas are tied to oil quotations. Second, an increase in gas prices may hit back the exporters because many consumers will find it cheaper to switch to coal or renewable energy sources, or develop nuclear energy.
Paradoxically as it may seem, but Brussels also needs a threat like a gas OPEC - it is a good argument to strengthen the EU united front in gas dialogue with Russia. Khristenko noted that "the reasons for concern of the gas consumers and their sharp criticism should be sought within these countries." In his opinion, "it is very easy to present gas exporters as a monster and create an image of a global threat in order to distract attention from one's own problems. This is a routine political trick."
Russia that actually guarantees the advance of gas exporters to unity needs a gas OPEC as an instrument of establishing rules of a game that would meet the interests of both producers and consumers. The world's leader in gas production, exports and reserves, Moscow wants to have an opportunity to influence the policy of all major gas producers and, in perspective, transit countries rather than the attributes of a formal institution.
Indicatively, the louder the appeals for a gas OPEC, the fewer demands that Russia should ratify the Energy Charter. The tactic of sidetracking attention works. For Moscow, entry into a coordination cartel is a much less binding step than ratification of the Charter with all of its indigestible protocols. If the leading gas exporters reach some agreements of principle, the rules of the game will undergo a dramatic change.
Strategically, it is important for Russia not to overdo with the talk about a gas cartel. The emergence of an influential union of gas producers may seriously upset the balance of forces and interests, and become a reason for major conflicts and confrontation between energy producers and consumers.
It is quite obvious that Iran and Venezuela that do not feature prominently in the gas market were trying to draw Moscow into unnecessary political games. Russia resisted these efforts and continued active contacts with Algeria and Qatar at the forum. Russian gas producers need to coordinate actions with these leading gas suppliers.
Experts agree that concerted policy will help to untie gas prices from oil quotations. All producers and exporters of gas have a stake in this because if they succeed, they will be able to conduct their own price policy without looking at the situation in the oil market.
An alliance of gas exporters will allow them to cooperate on an equal footing with the consumer cartel represented by the International Energy Agency. However, to guarantee energy security in full measure, producers will have to include transit countries in the cartel, because they can keep supplies from getting to consumers.
To sum up, the formation of a cartel has been postponed. But the idea is alive and its major aspect - gas price - is being translated into reality. This is an important step toward stronger unity of competing gas producers.
Igor Tomberg, Ph.D. (economics), is senior research fellow with the Center for Energy Studies at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070411/63456401.html

Moscow drafts softer charter for gas cartel

Russia will present its draft charter of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), which it wants to become a gas OPEC, at an April 28 meeting in Tehran.
Unlike Iran's draft modeled on the charter of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the charter elaborated in Moscow presents GECF as the international floor for elaborating the gas price formula and discussing new gas routes.
Experts say it will be very difficult for potential gas cartel members to agree with each other.
Russia's Gazprom and Economic Development and Trade Ministry say GECF is quite unlike OPEC.
"We don't need a cartel agreement," they said.
Moscow advanced its current initiative in response to the Iranian vision of the forum's future presented in December last year. According to sources in the Russian government and Gazprom, the Iranian draft is very similar to the OPEC charter. Several Russian ministries that have analyzed it have rejected the document as unacceptable.
The newspaper's sources in government agencies cannot say which of the two drafts will be approved at the GECF meeting in Moscow in June. The potential members of the gas OPEC have widely different interests and expectations.
Tripoli supports the idea of an organization of gas exporting countries similar to OPEC, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi said at a party organized in honor of Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
He said that the new organization should help countries hit by skyrocketing oil prices, above all in Africa.
Experts are wary of the idea of a gas OPEC. Vladimir Milov, president of the independent Moscow-based Institute of Energy Policy, said that in the next ten years gas suppliers would be linked with gas consumers with direct pipelines, very few of which cross.
"Qatar is the largest [gas] supplier to the United States and Britain, while Algeria mostly delivers its gas to Spain and Italy, and there is no way they can exchange their clients," Milov said.
Besides, there is growing competition in gas routes.
"As soon as Russia announced its South Stream project [designed to pump Central Asian natural gas to Europe], Iran said it could supply gas for the Nabucco pipeline [bypassing Russia] and started signing bilateral agreements on gas supplies to the European Union via the trans-Adriatic gas pipeline from Turkey to Greece and later possibly to Italy."
According to Milov, "one cannot expect rivals to coordinate their delivery routes."
Vedomosti, Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Iran set to sign oil and gas cooperation deal with Gazprom
17:42 22/ 04/ 2008
TEHRAN, April 22 (RIA Novosti) - Tehran expects to sign an oil and gas cooperation agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom in the near future, the republic's oil minister, Gholam-Hossein Nozari, said on Tuesday.
Nozari said negotiations were currently under way with Gazprom to develop several sites at the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf and the North Azadegan oil deposit in the country's south.
"We hope these negotiations will be successfully concluded in the near future," Nozari said.
Gazprom has been participating in the development of the South Pars field's second and third stages together with France's TotalElf and Malaysia's Petronas. The facility is operating in design mode to produce and process 20 billion cu m of gas annually.
Iran's proven natural gas reserves total over 28 trillion cubic meters. In 2006, gas production in the republic was 105 billion cu m, with consumption standing at 105.1 billion cu m. Gas accounts for 53% of the country's energy balance, oil 44%, the hydropower industry 2% and coal 1%.
South Pars holds 60% of Iran's reserves, and 10% of known global reserves of natural gas. The deposit is a part of the North Dome deposit, the largest non-associated gas field in the world, situated in Qatar and Iran.
The North Azadegan field has reserves of about 33 billion barrels of crude.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20080422/105631838.html


Gazprom moves to Africa to attack southern Europe

Gazprom and Libya's National Oil Corporation have signed a cooperation memorandum and discussed some joint projects. Implementation of the gas monopoly's plans will strengthen its standing not only in Africa but also in southern Europe.
Libya promised Russia not only resource-related but also political support on the world energy market. At a lunch given in honor of Vladimir Putin, the Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi said Libya welcomed the idea of giving legal shape to a new organization of gas exporting countries based on OPEC. Gazprom plans to join the Green Stream project (50% owned by Italy's Eni), which is to link Africa and Europe (from Libya to Sicily), and is considering the option of a gas pipeline to run in parallel.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Eni was taking part in the development of a very large oil and gas field in Libya. "With the asset swapping agreements Gazprom has with Eni, we expect to share in these projects," he said.
Mikhail Korchemkin, director of East European Gas Analysis, said that Gazprom's segment of global gas output would fall from 19% in 2007 to 13% in 2030. "Gazprom can keep its influence on world markets only by selling gas produced in other countries," he said. "Libya is therefore interesting to it not only as a tappable resource, but perhaps also as a transit country for the Trans-Saharan gas pipeline from Nigeria, which has more proven reserves than Turkmenistan."
Analysts say that the agreements Gazprom reached in Libya could set the European community seriously agog, worried as it is by Gazprom's growing international stance. "Gazprom's participation in the Libyan gas projects will enable it to enter south European markets, where its holding is as yet weak," said Tamara Kasyanova, director general of the independent consulting group 2K Audit - Business Consulting.
"Gazprom is serially concluding agreements with all energy suppliers to Europe. This enables it to coordinate exporters' interests and increase the country's impact on the gas market in Europe," said Timur Khairullin, a senior analyst with the AntantaPioglobal investment company.
Eni is likely to act as a guide for the Russian monopoly, pointing the way to Europe. The company that played no small role in stripping the bankrupt Yukos company expects to get some appetizing assets in Russia. In exchange, it is prepared to share with Gazprom everything it has.
RBC Daily

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080418/105435653.html