GECF discusses global natural gas demand at Tehran meeting

HE al-Sada with ministers who attended the 17th Ministerial Meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Tehran on November 21.The 17th Ministerial Meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Tehran discussed the global natural gas demand, challenges and competition from other fuel sources and exporters.The one-day meeting on Saturday was held under the chairmanship of Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources as president of the Ministerial Meeting.Besides HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada, the meeting was attended by ministers from Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, UAE and Venezuela as well as Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman and Peru as observers. The president of the ministerial meeting gave an overview of developments in the gas markets and outlined the challenges facing the GECF member countries, emphasising the need for enhanced co-operation and co-ordination among member countries to promote natural gas and realise the objectives of the GECF.The meeting discussed the global gas market report presented by the secretariat including recent developments in the world economy. The report also discussed the position of GECF in the global gas trade by pipeline and LNG, and the important role of the GECF in gas supply. The development of conventional and unconventional natural gas supplies and evolution of natural gas price trends was also discussed in the secretariat’s report. The ministers renewed the term of Dr SM Hossein Adeli as GECF secretary general for a period of two years. They appointed al-Sada as president of the Ministerial Meeting for 2016, and Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iran’s Minister of Petroleum as alternate president for the same period.The ministers approved Azerbaijan as a new GECF observer member. It was also decided that the 18th Ministerial Meeting of the GECF will be convened in Doha on November 17 next year.