Iran hosts ministerial meeting of Gas Exporting Countries Forum

Tehran, Dec 8: The 26th Ministerial Meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) kicked off in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Sunday, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Chaired by Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad, the one-day meeting was attended by GECF Secretary-General Mohamed Hamel and ministers, deputy ministers, and senior officials from GECF member states’ oil and gas ministries, the report said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Paknejad said the meeting provided a favorable opportunity for exchanging ideas and consultations among GECF members and observers.

He also warned that tensions and threats in the West Asia region, including those in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria, undermine regional stability and global energy security.

Also at the ceremony, Hamel said that since the forum’s establishment in 2001, global demand for natural gas had risen by 70 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported while quoting Shana News Agency affiliated with the Iranian Oil Ministry.

He said the GECF predicted that global natural gas consumption would see a 34-per cent increase by 2050.

The GECF has 12 full members, including Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

The organisation also has eight observer countries, five of which - Azerbaijan, Iraq, Mauritania, Senegal, and Mozambique - attended the meeting, according to the IRNA report.

GECF members collectively control 69 percent of the world’s gas reserves, 39 per cent of its marketed production, 40 percent of global gas exports, and 51 percent of liquefied natural gas exports, according to an overview report published on GECF’s website.