ALISON-MADUEKE EMERGES AS PRESIDENT OF GAS EXPORTING COUNTRIES FORUM

A few weeks after the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, emerged the first female President of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), she was Tuesday appointed the President of the Ministerial Meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Doha, Qatar.

Also at its 16th Ministerial Meeting the same day, the member countries of GECF appointed the Minister of Oil and Gas of Libya, Mr. Mashala SA Said, as the Alternate President.

The meeting of GECF, an equivalent of OPEC, was attended by ministers from Algeria, Iran, Libya, Qatar, Russia and United Arab Emirates, while the Heads of Delegations from Bolivia, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela were observers.
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Alison-Madueke, who had been the Alternate President, was however absent at the meeting but Nigeria’s Ambassador to Qatar, Ambassador Shuaibu Ahmed, and the Group Executive Director in charge of Gas and Power at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. David Ige, were in attendance.‬

Speaking to journalists at the end of the meeting, the Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar, Dr. Mohammed Saleh Al Sada said the organisation noted that the global gas demand is increasing, while it is decreasing in Europe due to the weak economy and policy measures.

“However, the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trade is increasing and is taking a greater share of global gas trade.

The ministers decided to start the preparations for the Third Gas Summit in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran in 2015,” he said.

THISDAY gathered that as the oil price continues to drop at the international market, Nigeria and other major gas producing countries are seeking a formidable OPEC-like bloc to create a stable and reliable gas market to argument the dwindling revenue from oil.

GECF, which will hold its 17
th Ministerial Meeting in Abuja in 2015, is a gathering of the world’s leading gas producers, being forced by the falling crude oil prices to strengthen the 15- year- old forum to build a mechanism for stability and security of supply and demand for gas.

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