Gas, Reliable Energy for Sustainable Development
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) held an extraordinary ministerial meeting and its fourth summit in Bolivia on November 23-24. Iran's First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri and Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh attended the Summit and the Ministerial Meeting.
In a declaration issued at the end of the summit, known as the Declaration of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the GECF member states agreed to "promote the use of natural gas in its different forms and sectors, including energy production, transport and industry, for worldwide benefit and among all participants involved in the energy sector, through coordinated policies and strategies among the GECF member countries."
The declaration also reaffirmed determination to "develop and implement coordinated policies and actions among GECF Member Countries to promote the long-term natural gas contracts necessary for financing natural gas projects."
The GECF member states expressed their commitment to "pursue equitable risk sharing approach to the issue of gas pricing mechanism with the linkage to the crude oil and its products to ensure a fair price for natural gas taking into account its advantages in terms of energy efficiency and environmental premiums."
They agreed to "promote and develop effective channels of dialogue between producers and consumers of natural gas, in coordination with regional and global energy organizations, in order to facilitate access to the global consumption of natural gas."
GECF, whose members hold 67% of the world gas reserves, accounts for producing 44% of global gas. They also account for 64% of pipeline gas exports and 66% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade.
The fourth Summit in Bolivia provided the GECF Member countries with the opportunity to discuss and exchange views on developments, trends, and policies on energy in general and gas in particular at the highest level, and also to reaffirm their continued support to the objectives of the Forum. Previous GECF Gas Summits were held in Qatar in 2011, Moscow in 2013 and in Tehran in 2015.
Hosted by Bolivian President Evo Morales, the fourth Summit was attended by delegations from Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russian Federation, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela, as well as Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman and Peru as Observers.
Cooperation between Gas Producers
Addressing the Summit, Jahangiri said Iran had provided the necessary conditions for foreign companies to operate projects.
"Iran has provided the necessary conditions for attracting investment and the activity of foreign companies," he said, adding that Iran believed that pursuing the interests of all GECF member states and materialization of GECF objectives would be the main goal sought by national, regional and international activities.
Jahangiri called for the adoption of coordinated and convergent policies to neutralize unilateral and multilateral sanctions against any country.
He said that gas market was a competitive market as gas has to vie with alternative sources of energy and emerging producers.
Referring to geopolitical upheavals, he said: "These upheavals influence the situation of gas in the global energy arena in certain cases, harming market safety and the global gas supply and demand balance."
"In light of these developments, as the main producers of natural gas, we need to upgrade our cooperation to a new level and move to share information and experience and coordinate our marketing and export policies at regional and international levels," said Jahangiri.
He laid emphasis on cooperation between GECF member states in persuading national companies to exchange technical knowhow about reducing production costs, conversion and transmission of natural gas, joint investments and adoption of convergent policies, saying that would boost the collective interests of these countries.
Iran Boosting Ties with Gas Producers
On the sidelines of this summit, Jahangiri met with the presidents of Equatorial Guinea, Venezuela and Libya as well as the foreign affairs minister of Libya, and stressed the need for Iran's cooperation with these countries within the framework of GECF.
Iran's sharing experience in the industrial and scientific sectors of energy, expansion of cooperation with these countries and removal of banking obstacles to economic cooperation were among topics highlighted in Jahangiri's bilateral meetings.
Iran's Mohammad-Hossein Adeli, who is GECF Secretary General, said the gas market is dominated by rivalry.
He said the emergence of a new business atmosphere required exporters and consumers to work out new mechanisms.
Adeli called for vigilance vis-à-vis actions that may disturb supply and demand security. He added that both producers and consumers have to make efforts on guaranteeing gas market stability.
1st Int'l Seminar
The GECF member states also held their first international seminar on November 22, during which they discussed gas market conditions in Latin America and the bright future of the market.
Adeli echoed remarks by a senior manager of Royal Dutch Shell, saying after the oil crash in 2014 oil companies reconsidered their financing and reduced costs. Shell has reduced its costs in the Gulf of Mexico by 60%.
Adeli Wins Praise
During the extraordinary ministerial meeting of GECF, Adeli received praise for the practice of his job as the secretary general of the forum of gas producers. Adeli's four-year term in office ends in December.
Since Adeli's election to this post four years ago, the GECF Executive Board and Secretariat adopted five-year working plan for the implementation of the GECF long term strategy, conducted the feasibility study of the Gas Research Institute, and published the 2017 edition of GECF Global Gas Outlook 2040.
Based on the long term strategy of the Forum, the Ministers reviewed and approved the Five-Year working Plan of the Forum. They also welcomed the Secretariat’s initiative in completing and publishing the annual statistical bulletin that contains the valuable data and information on gas markets.
The ministers also reviewed the report on the Feasibility Study of the Gas Research Institute and decided to create the GECF Gas Research Institute in Algeria.
Upon the completion of two terms of tenure of incumbent Secretary General, the ministers selected and appointed Russian Yuri Sentyurin as the next Secretary General of GECF for a period of two years starting from January 2018.