August 10th, 2008
As reported by Reuters, Iran and Algeria are expected to discuss the formation of an OPEC-style gas group during a visit by Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to Tehran. As the article notes:
“… Iran wants to turn the previously toothless Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) into a more formal organization akin to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the 13-member grouping which makes output decisions that can sway global oil prices.
…The United States and Europe have warned against such a grouping, saying it could pose a danger to global energy security and create room for price manipulation.
Algeria and Iran are both members of OPEC and the GECF. Russia will hold a ministerial meeting in November to discuss a charter for the forum, until now seen as a talking shop for gas producing nations.
Algeria is a major gas exporter to Europe. Iran is the world’s fourth-largest gas producer but consumes almost all of its production. It exports a fraction of its output to Turkey, but also imports from Turkmenistan….”
Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.