Who profits from a gas OPEC?

Four years after the fall of Baghdad – which for the neo-cons would signal the advent of the US as “the new OPEC” – a meeting in the tiny Gulf emirate of Qatar may be signaling the birth of a new cartel: a “gas OPEC”, grouping countries controlling 73% of the world’s gas reserves and 42% of production.

It’s not as simple as it seems, because a gas cartel along the lines of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is

above all a brilliant political idea – an astute exercise in (new) branding. The irony is that in this case the wealthy West – so keen on branding when it comes to soft drinks and TVs – has been shaken to the core.
Doha could not be a more adequate venue for this crucial meeting of the soon-to-be-rebranded Gas Exporting Countries Forum – an organization founded in 2001. By 2008, Qatar will be the world’s premier supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG). It already boasts the highest per capita income in the Middle East. Official spin rules that the emirate is “carefully investing” no less than US$130 billion over the next five to seven years to build a “dynamic and sustainable economy”. Iraqis about to be “liberated” from their oil wealth have every reason to be jealous, not to mention the array of gas-deprived developing countries.

Members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum include Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Norway is an observer. The founding fathers of the gas OPEC would be Russia, Iran, Qatar, Venezuela and Algeria. All their political leaders are in favor – from Vladimir Putin to Mahmud Ahmadinejad, from Hugo Chavez to Abdelaziz Bouteflika. That’s what sends shivers down the spines of the United States and the European Union – testy Putin and favorite bogeymen du jour Chavez and Ahmadinejad laying down the law in yet another powerful club.

Asia Times