Russia boosting its role in 'Gas OPEC'

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the state-rum Gazprom holding Victor Zubkov was appointed to this post by Vladimir Putin in the late May. This move is considered as the Russian President’s intention to strengthen Russia’s role in the adoption of decisions at the forum and stimulating its activities as a whole. This is stated by general director of the National Energy Security Fund, Konstantin Simonov.

“The task at the moment is to try to strengthen this forum by political heavy weights. The appointment of Zubkov as special envoy is assessed as Russia’s attempt to re-launch the organization and give it political weight. Hopefully, he will be able to achieve this because the potential of development is undoubtedly very high. At the same time, there are contradictions within the forum, but they have to be ironed out. I hope that Zubkov as an experienced politician, who is aware of nuances in adopting decisions, will try his best to do so,” Konstantin Simonov said.

The share of the gas reserves of the member countries of the forum is estimated at 75 percent of reserves of the world’s total. These countries currently provide 42 percent of the world’s production. The main problem of the forum is the independent policy pursued by the leading sellers of gas. Qatar, for example, last year, dumped a huge amount of liquefied natural gas on the European market and undermined the price of gas supplied through pipelines from Russia. There are big problems between Russia and Turkmenistan, which is engaged in dumping, and this has affected the environment at the talks between Russia and China on the price of gas.

The gas consumers are skillfully taking advantage of these contradictions, says Konstantin Simonov.

“In the contemporary gas market, we see how buyers of gas are aggressively defending their standpoint. They are trying to promote competition between sellers and introduce mechanisms that are advantageous to them. They are attempting to drive down the prices. In the past years, a tough campaign has been going on to exert pressure on sellers. Many sellers have been prompted to make concessions. For example, this year, Gazprom has planned to return 8 billion U.S. dollars to its buyers in Europe from its revenues. Naturally, the sellers are thinking of how to coordinate their efforts on the gas market,” Konstantin Simonov added.

This is the key topic at the forum in Moscow. In the autumn, the “Gas OPEC” will hold its meeting at the ministerial level in Equatorial Guinea. It will outline its strategy for the future and decide where the second gas summit will be held. Russia has offered to host it in Moscow.