What political game does "Gas OPEC" play?

Natural gas exporting countries worldwide, representatives of which partook in a natural gas forum in Doha, Qatar, on April 9, have drawn particular global attention. Some international opinion earlier held that it was likely or quite possible for Iran, Venezuela, Algeria and other leading natural gas exporters to announce at the meeting the formation of a Gas Exporting Countries Organization or a "gas equivalent of OPEC" to coordinate moves relating to the gas production and supply. The issue, however, was not dealt with at the congress, and a high-level committee was set up instead to assess the market, study pricing policies and coordinate cooperation among member nations of the forum.

As a matter of fact, the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), or "gas OPEC", is an extremely sensitive topic, which could astir the nerves of major natural gas supplies and consumers all over the world. Both the United States and the European Union habr long voiced their opposition to such an organization, which they said would "manipulate" or control the global gas market.

Natural gas constitutes the world's crucial global energy source with its total global reserve of amounting to approximately 170 trillion to 200 trillion cubic square meters. GECF, founded first in 2001 with an aim of maintaining stability, or security of the global gas supply, had drawn to this year's forum representatives of 22 countries, which boast more than 70 percent of the total global gas reserve. Despite a resembled club with laxity to varying extent, the forum will surely play a vital, substantial role, once it is turned into an official state-to-state organization.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have been enthusiastic promoters of the "gas OPEC", whereas Russian President Vladimir Putin, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa AL-Thani and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika all voice their interest or support in this regard, say relevant media reports. Estimates show that the total natural gas output of their countries accounts for 60 percent of the global total, and Russia and Iran rank the first and second worldwide in term of the gas output. As far as these nations are concerned, "gas OPEC" is of vital strategic importance, not only to secure their income from gas export and raise their status on the global gas market, but to raise their gravity or impact on the international political arena.

Such a tendency will naturally throw the U.S. and EU into panics and both fear that the gas energy alliance will land them in an unfavorable position in their negotiations on global energy market and even in the global political arena. Russia and Algeria signed a gas export cooperation memorandum in 2006, which filled EU with fears. So EU has been thinking of trying to seek for new gas sources in Caribbean countries. Once the 'gas OPEC" is established, however, these Caribbean countries would, too, join the organization. Henxe, the EU member nations will have no other option then but to cooperate with Russia. With regard to the U.S., headaches or troubles resultant from the "gas OPEC" will far outstrip those from the economic sphere.

Furthermore, gas trade differs widely from oil trade in the aspect that most of the gas deal is so permanent that it could hardly shape a price setting mechanism to match that of the OPEC, while oil trade has been conducted on a daily and even hourly basis. Consequently, the leading gas exporting countries have to turn to focus on "coordinated cooperation" in view of above-mentioned factors.

Nevertheless, there exist possibilities on the birth of "gas OPEC". President Hugo Chavez has been bent on persuading leaders of Bolivia and Argentine to set up a natural gas exporting countries body in Latin America, so as to strategically define the natural gas' marketing price and export orientation, under which Venezuela exports its gas to Caribbean countries, Bolivia sells its gas to Brazil, and Argentina sells its gas to Chile and Paraguay in a bid to help nurse the natural gas market.

To date, the "gas OPEC" represents merely "big dreams", acknowledges a Western European media report. But people have already come to witness that its impact has begun appearing in global economy and world politics, and a relevant political game around it has also started to unfold.

By People's Daily Online