GECF: Becoming a ‘Trusted Authority in Gas’
Since the signing of the Agreement on the Functioning of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum and the Statute of the GECF by representatives of the governments of 11 Member Countries during the 8th Ministerial Meeting held in Moscow, Russia on December 23, 2008. GECF is progressively becoming a reference point in the gas market and is positioned to play a more significant role in ensuring stability and cooperation among Member Countries and consumer countries, in a world where natural gas is growing in importance in the global energy mix, considering its advantages as a clean, abundant and safe fuel of choice capable of contributing greatly to global energy security.
GECF seeks also to build a platform for dialogue between gas producers and gas consumers for stability and security of supply in global natural gas markets. It is clear that without well thought-out investments and infrastructure development in the gas industry, it will not be possible to talk about sustainable growth in the world’s major economies, as global gas consumption will only increase over the next decade. GECF considers it necessary to establish a more predictable and reliable global gas industry that Member Countries can contribute to the progress of a coherent framework for strong, sustainable and balanced economic growth.
At the heart of the Forum’s Mission is the intent to foster constructive debates about stable and transparent energy market among Member countries. Since the First Gas Summit in 2011, the Forum has set the frame-work for the delivery of its objectives; Members Countries have acknowledged the need to reach a fair price for natural gas based on gas to oil products prices indexation with the objective of an oil and gas price convergence, taking into account its advantages both in terms of energy efficiency and environmental premium. This position continues to stimulate debates in the energy sector and is gathering momentum globally.
GECF will play an increasingly important role in future, as the major gas & Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exporters of the world are currently the Forum’s members. With increasing number of members, it is predictable that GECF will be in a stronger position to stabilize the global natural gas markets. It will also facilitate a more efficient supply and demand management in favor of all stakeholders including suppliers and consumers. All through meeting the imbalance of supply and demand, a fair price - which does not damage the huge investments in upstream infrastructures and not suppress the end users - would be achievable.
Furthermore, the coordination in pricing policies and harmonization of marketing strategies will contribute to market transparency and will assist in lowering the price volatility. More gas reserves will give an upper hand to the GECF in the international markets to exert and implement the agreed policies by a higher confidence and more efficiency. Once the majority of gas exporters agree and commit on uniform behaviors in the market, we could be expecting desirable decisions to be made and effective actions to be taken which is in line with the objectives of the Forum. In other words, the more the number of the members, the higher acceptability and agreeability will shape in global gas market places.
Internationally, GECF is gaining recognition as a ‘Trusted Authority in Gas’, the United Arab Emirates formally joined the Forum as a Member Country and the Republic of Iraq became an Observer Member of the Forum in 2012; with 13 Member Countries and four Observers Members, the GECF looks at the future with optimism.
On its 4th Anniversary, as the Forum moves towards the 2nd Gas Summit in Moscow, Russia, a number of initiatives are been proposed to facilitate development in the natural gas sector of Member Countries, such as proposal for financial Institution in the GECF to provide access to funds for the development of infrastructure of the gas resources of Member Countries, the establishment of the Gas Research Institute to strengthen the Forum’s research capability in key areas relevant to development of the global energy market as well as studies in topical areas that continue to contribute to debates in the global energy landscape.
Beyond the development of natural gas, Member Countries are also committed to the use of these abundant resources in a sustainable way through coordinated efforts aimed at addressing global environmental challenges, under the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
H.E. Leonid Bokhanovskiy