Era of cheap gas is over - Iran
Tehran Times cited Mr Rostam Qasemi oil minister of Iran said that the era of cheap gas is over.
Mr Qasemi said that realizing a fair gas price is a goal which is seriously followed up by Iran. To this end, we will negotiate with all members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. Gas should be sold at a real price.
In November 2012, Iran was named the new chair of the GECF and will host a summit in autumn 2013. Leaders of the world’s biggest gas suppliers ended their first summit in Doha, Qatar on November 13th 2012. During the gathering, they restated the need for a fair gas price while Iran 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 Qasemi 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.
He said that 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 business.
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 - Tehran Times