TEHRAN, April 6 (UPI) -- The price of natural gas should be decoupled from crude oil prices, said top Iranian energy officials ahead of a major gas conference in Algeria.
Delegates from the Gas Exporting Countries Forum are preparing for their regular summit April 19 in Algeria. Tehran said Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mir Kazemi would join more than 3,000 experts at the summit, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reports.
Mohammad Ali Khatibi, the Iranian governor to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, added that the price of natural gas should be decoupled from crude oil prices.
Russia, Iran and other leading natural gas producers had their first ministerial meetings for the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Tehran in 2001. It was established as a forum to boost cooperation among member states similar to its oil counterpart, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Oil ministers in Mexico last week, for their part, said intervention in the crude oil market was needed to control price volatility.
The 15-member GECF agreed at its December ministerial meeting in Doha, the ninth since the organization was formed in 2001, that it needs to expand strategic cooperation.
