Algeria: Gas OPEC Proposal Not Real

Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said on Sunday in Doha that a proposal to form an OPEC-like gas cartel was no more that just an "idea".

"This is still an idea that has not reached a level that makes us say that gas producing and exporting countries would form an organisation," Khelil told AFP in Doha.

"I don't know if anyone has made a proposal" to discuss the idea, he said. "If someone proposes it (at the meeting), we will discuss it."

The possibility of a gas cartel has been floated in recent weeks, mainly by Iran, which is a member of GECF, an informal structure grouping 15 nations that was founded in 2001.

Indonesian Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the idea of a gas cartel was not yet a "concrete proposal" as the natural gas industry was "regional" in nature and differed from that of oil.

"Gas is not like oil. It is different in the sense that its market is regional. For instance, my market in Indonesia and Australia is probably different from the Russian, the Algerian and others," Yusgiantoro said.