UAE to merge with 'Gas OPEC'

The UAE has won cabinet approval to join the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), an intergovernmental organization of the world's leading gas exporters, said a report. GECF comprises 11 of the world's leading natural gas producers - Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. The forum, a gas equivalent of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) controls over 70 per cent of the world's natural gas reserves and more than 80 per cent of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) production. 'The cabinet gave approval today for the UAE's decision to join the forum,' the state news agency WAM said. The cabinet's ratification, at its meeting chaired by UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has made UAE the 12th state to join the gas forum, the report stated. The UAE boasts of over six trillion cubic metres of gas, ranking it fourth in the world. Russia is the world's largest gas producer and sits on 30 per cent of global reserves, while Qatar is the largest LNG exporter with a production capacity of 77 million tonnes a year.