Iran Says Era of Cheap Gas is Over

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

Realising a fair gas price is a goal which is seriously followed up by Iran, he added. To this end, we will negotiate with all members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), the Mehr News Agency quoted Qasemi as saying.

In November 2012, Iran was named the new chair of the GECF and will host a summit in autumn 2013. After the first GECF summit which was held in November last year, the Forum emphasized “the need to reach a fair price for natural gas based on gas to oil… prices indexation.”

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi called the meeting “a turning point in the history of the natural gas industry,” but criticized the taxes imposed on energy exports by Western consumer countries, Mehr said.

Any taxation by consumer countries “will derail the energy market,” Qasemi stated, adding that the fall in the value of the dollar has “negatively affected the world economy.”

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 have observer status.