Iran warns against western taxation on energy

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi warned the first summit of gas exporting countries that western taxation will derail the energy market.Addressing the 12-member Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) summit in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday, Qassemi termed the meeting "a turning point in the history of the natural gas industry," but blasted taxes against energy exports by western consumers. Any taxation by consumer countries "will derail the energy market," warned Qassemi who also said the falling dollar has "negatively affected the world economy". Leaders of the world's biggest gas suppliers ended their first summit Tuesday by reiterating the need for a fair gas price.The 12-member Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) expressed in a declaration they issued after the one-day summit "the need to reach a fair price for natural gas based on gas to oil … prices indexation." The declaration said the fair price is necessary to achieve convergence between prices of crude oil and natural gas and end disparities. The declaration said GECF members "recognize the importance of long-term gas contracts to achieve a balanced risk sharing mechanism between producers and consumers." GECF, whose members hold just under 70 percent of the world's natural gas reserves, also called for enhancing cooperation between member states and with consumers, especially in the field of technology. Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani opened the summit by complaining about disparities between oil and gas prices despite the rise in gas consumption in recent years. "It is illogical that discrepancies between oil prices and gas prices increase in favor of the first," said Sheikh Hamad. Egyptian Petroleum Minister Abdullah Ghorab, who represented his country, said a fair price "is the cornerstone for developing the gas industry." Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the leader of Libya's National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, were among those attending the one-day summit. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had been expected to represent the Islamic republic "wanted to be here but could not come," his representative, Qassemi, told the summit. Besides Oman which was admitted Sunday, the GECF also comprises Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Kazakhstan, Norway and the Netherlands are observers.