TEHRAN, April 7: Gas exporting countries are not seeking to create a gas cartel like Opec but want to cooperate more to ensure international markets are securely supplied, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Big gas powers meet on Monday in Doha, Qatar with speculation that the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is seeking to form the gas equivalent of Opec. Russia has already said no formal documents would be signed to that effect.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had unnerved consumer countries in January by suggesting setting up a gas body like the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that would include Russia.

The understanding about this issue is not the creation of a 'gas Opec' but rather it is to emphasise continuing cooperation and adding to cooperation, Mehr News Agency quoted Iran's Opec governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, as saying.

He said the goal for gas producers was “not to create a cartel but rather (it is about) the security of supply, providing the market's needs and voluntary cooperation of countries based on political tastes. Iran's Oil Ministry Web site SHANA carried some similar comments by Kazempour Ardebili, who was talking to reporters.

The goals of the (GECF) are not against consumer countries and this association is after market stability that is in the interest of producers and consumers, Kazempour Ardebili was quoted by SHANA as saying.

Although Iran has the world's second biggest reserves of gas behind Russia, it has been slow to develop gas exports, partly because US sanctions on the country restrict access to the main technology for making liquefied natural gas (LNG).

LNG, which is supercooled gas, can be transported by ship opening up markets beyond those accessible by pipeline.

Kazempour Ardebili said Khamenei had emphasised the need for cooperation in all respects among countries that have gas, especially Iran and Russia.

The gas market, unlike the oil trade, is dominated by long-term supply contracts, which analysts say would make it difficult to set up an Opec-style cartel.—Reuters