Iran pushing for more prominent role for gas exporting group GECF

Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said on Sunday that GECF members had welcomed Iran’s proposal to turn the group into an organization like the OPEC bloc of oil-exporting countries.

Paknejad made the remarks after meeting peers in a GECF ministerial gathering in Doha, Qatar.

An analysis by Tasnim news agency said that Iran’s push for a more influential role of the GECF in the global energy markets is aimed at protecting the interests of the gas-exporting nations from politicized decisions of major consumers, including countries in Europe.

It said that Iran and Russia control more than 40% of the world’s natural gas resources, but they have almost no say in controlling the supplies and prices in key markets like Europe.

“Both Iran and Russia have understood that the continued inaction vis-à-vis the global market means giving up their power to the consumers,” said the report.

The GECF was officially established in late 2008 upon an idea for coordinated activities in the global gas sector.

The group currently comprises 20 countries that together control more than 70% of the world’s proven natural gas reserves and nearly 45% of the global market production.

Iran has sizable gas exports to neighboring Iraq and Turkey. However, foreign sanctions have prevented the country from expanding its gas sector and increasing its export volumes.

Western sanctions have significantly affected Russia’s gas exports to Europe since the country entered into a war with neighboring Ukraine in 2022.  /isna