On tripartite meeting of Gazprom, Iranian and Qatari delegations

Tehran today hosted a meeting of Gazprom’s delegation led by the Company’s Management Committee Chairman Alexey Miller, Iran’s delegation led by Iranian Petroleum Minister Gholamhossein Nozari and Qatar’s delegation led by Qatari Deputy Prime Minister, Energy & Industry Minister Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah. This is the first joint high-profile meeting of representatives of the three gas producing countries holding in aggregate around 60 per cent of the global gas reserves.

Alexey Miller stated at the end of the meeting that “we are united by the world’s largest gas reserves, common strategic interests and, which is very important, high potential for cooperation within tripartite projects.”

We have agreed to hold regular, three-four times a year, meetings of a “big gas troika” for addressing the crucial issues of mutual interest with regard to the gas market development. We believe that such consultations may contribute greatly to building the Gas Exporting Countries Forum’s agenda. We share a common vision of the Forum’s goals and tasks, as well as of the need to rapidly transform it into a permanent organization promoting reliable and stable energy supplies across the globe.

There will also be created a Supreme Technical Committee comprised of specialists and experts from Gazprom, Iran and Qatar for discussing the implementation of certain joint projects spanning the entire value chain from geological exploration and production to transportation and joint marketing of gas.

The first meeting of the tripartite Technical Committee will take place in Doha within a week.

The participants voiced support for the initiative of creating an international Club of Experts and Journalists specializing in the energy sector. The Club’s purpose is ensuring that the most authoritative specialists receive first-hand information concerning the most topical issues of the oil and gas sector. At the forthcoming meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Moscow other Forum participants will be invited to join the establishment of this Club, which is planned to be named the “Energy Pole”.

The participants also touched upon the issues related to the current situation on the hydrocarbons market. Alexey Miller underscored that “we share the opinion that oil price fluctuations don’t place in doubt the fundamental thesis that the era of cheap hydrocarbons is over, and the parties will proceed from this standpoint in their work.”