US lawmaker urges White House to thwart creation of gas cartel

Washington (Platts)--2Apr2007

The top-ranking Republican on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee
Monday, in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, urged the Bush
administration to prevent the creation of an OPEC-like natural gas cartel.

"The creation of this cartel would pose a major and long-term threat to
the world's energy supply," said Ilena Ros-Lehtinen, Republican-Florida. "We
must vigorously oppose the establishment of this global extortion racket."

Ros-Lehtinen's letter to Rice comes in advance of an April meeting in
Doha, Qatar, of senior officials from Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Algeria, Qatar
and other natural gas producers. Officials from some the countries,
particularly Iran, Russian and Venezuela, have said they intend to form a
natural-gas exporters' cartel.

In the letter, Ros-Lehtinen suggested that the United States: develop a
joint strategy with its allies to vigorously oppose the creation of a cartel;
tell Qatar, the host of the April meeting, that the US will not assist
countries that are involved in the cartel; tell Russia creation of the cartel
would be viewed as "an unfriendly act that would negatively impact cooperation
in other areas;" and help countries in Central Asia to develop pipelines and
other infrastructure that would reduce their reliance on Russia, Iran, or
others for their gas exports.

--Cathy Landry, cathy_landry@platts.com