Azernews.Az

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has said that the era of cheap natural gas is over.

Agreeing on a fair gas price by the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is the issue which is seriously followed up by Iran, Mehr news agency quoted Qasemi as saying.

Gas should be sold at a real price, he said, adding that negotiations will be carried on in this regard with the gas exporting countries.

Iran has been named the new chair of the GECF and will host its summit this year.

Leaders of the world's biggest gas suppliers ended their first summit in Doha, Qatar, on Nov.13 by reiterating the need for a fair gas price while Iran, whose president was absent, warned that Western taxation will derail the energy market, according to AFP.

The 12-member GECF expressed in a declaration they issued after the one-day summit "the need to reach a fair price for natural gas based on gas to oil ... prices indexation."

Rostam Qasemi termed the meeting "a turning point in the history of the natural gas industry," but blasted taxes against energy exports by Western consumers.

Any taxation by consumer countries "will derail the energy market," warned Qasemi, who also said the falling dollar has "negatively affected the world economy."

The forum unites 12 countries as full members and 3 as observers. Full members possess 42 percent of gas production in the world, 70 percent of gas reservoirs, 38 percent of gas pipelines transportation and 85 percent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) 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 hold an observer status.