MOSCOW -- Russia is not planning an OPEC-style gas exporting group, rumours of which have alarmed the West, but will boost efforts to cooperate with other gas exporters, a top Kremlin official said on Tuesday.
"As far as I know, no concrete talks on the creation of some kind of OPEC-like institution are under way now," said Igor Ivanov, secretary of President Vladimir Putin's Security Council.
"But we have held and will hold active talks with other gas producers to agree our policy on the international gas market without harming anyone," he added at a news conference.
Last year Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, holder of the world's largest gas reserves, agreed a cooperation deal with Algeria's oil company Sonatrach, raising fears in Europe that two of its top gas suppliers might fix prices.
NATO sources also said in November it had warned its members that Russia might seek to form such a club, with member-countries stretching from Algeria to Central Asia, to be used as a political weapon in dealings with Europe.
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Russian officials have repeatedly denied these claims, but the issue resurfaced earlier this week after Ivanov's meeting with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran.
"Iran and Russia can establish the structure for an organisation of gas cooperation like OPEC as half of the world's gas reserves are in Russia and Iran," Khamenei was quoted by the Iranian television as saying.
Russia and Iran are the world's No. 1 and No. 2 holders of gas reserves respectively. Iran's reserves are estimated at 940 trillion cubic feet or more and Russia holds between 1,680 trillion and 2,360 trillion cubic feet.
Industry experts put world reserves at between 6,100 trillion and 7,000 trillion cubic feet.
"This idea was voiced," Ivanov said. "But it was offered not as a topic for talks but rather as a general thought that gas producers should look for ways of cooperation which could best ensure their interests," Ivanov said.
"It is quite natural for gas producers to show interest in exchanging opinions on what the international situation looks like, what the main trends in energy transit and prices are," he added.
COOPERATION PLANS
Russia, which claims a strengthened international position on the back of seven consecutive years of economic growth, views its huge oil and gas reserves as a key asset.
It has been alarmed by the growing tendency in Europe, Russia's main gas market, to diversify suppliers in order to reduce dependency on Moscow.
Russia has also been angered by the European demands to allow access for Western companies to its pipelines.
The idea of a gas cartel is popular among increasingly influential nationalist politicians in Russia. But analysts note that the gas market is based on long-term contracts and so offers few ways for any OPEC-like cartel to be effective.
Russian officials say European fears of a gas cartel are driven by Cold War-era dislike of Moscow. Putin's top adviser on European Union affairs, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, described plans for a gas cartel as a media invention.
"It's one of the Western media's favourite games: to look for evil in Russia," he told a news conference. "Any talk about such alliances is part of this game."
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