MNA reported that Iran has been named the new chair of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum and will host GECF summit in autumn 2013.
Leaders of the world's biggest gas suppliers ended their first summit in Doha, Qatar on November 13. During the gathering, they restated the need for a fair gas price while Iran, whose president was absent, warned that Western taxation could derail the energy market.
The GECF issued a declaration after the one day summit in which the 12 member states emphasized the need to reach a fair price for natural gas based on gas to oil prices indexation.
Mr Rostam Qasemi oil minister of Iran called the meeting a turning point in the history of the natural gas industry but criticized the taxes imposed on energy exports by Western consumer countries.
Mr Qasemi stated any taxation by consumer countries will derail the energy market. The fall in the value of the dollar has negatively affected the world economy. The forum unites 12 countries as full members and 3 as observers. The full members possess 70% of the world's gas reserves and account for 42% of gas production, 38% of transport through gas pipelines and 85% of the liquefied natural gas.
The GECF members are Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela, while Kazakhstan, Norway and the Netherlands have observer status.
Source - MNA
