Chaired by Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad, the one-day meeting was attended by GECF Secretary-General Mohamed Hamel and ministers, deputy ministers, and senior officials from GECF member states’ oil and gas ministries, the report said.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Paknejad said the meeting provided a favorable opportunity for exchanging ideas and consultations among GECF members and observers.
He also warned that tensions and threats in the West Asia region, including those in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria, undermine regional stability and global energy security.
Also at the ceremony, Hamel said that since the forum’s establishment in 2001, global demand for natural gas had risen by 70 percent, according to Shana News Agency affiliated with the Iranian Oil Ministry.
He said the GECF predicted that global natural gas consumption would see a 34-percent increase by 2050.
The GECF has 12 full members, including Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
The organization also has eight observer countries, five of which — Azerbaijan, Iraq, Mauritania, Senegal, and Mozambique — attended the meeting, according to the IRNA report.
GECF members collectively control 69 percent of the world’s gas reserves, 39 percent of its marketed production, 40 percent of global gas exports, and 51 percent of liquefied natural gas exports, according to an overview report published on GECF’s website.
Out of the GECF 12 member states, six countries have sent their ministers, the rest are taking part at the level of deputy ministers and senior officials.