The 10th Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) ministerial meeting will kick off in Oran, Algeria tomorrow.
Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi will attend the meeting, SHANA News Agency reported.
The meeting will examine the possibility of co-operation between the grouping and the different international energy forums to promote gas industry and enhance it on global market.
Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil has pointed out that co-operation with bodies such as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) would be useful for the GECF and enable it to achieve many of its objectives, NAM News Network reported.
The Algerian minister also underlined the importance of the 16th International Conference and Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG 16) which would be held from April 18 to 21 alongside the 10th GECF as it would be marked by the participation of 11 ministers of the OPEC member states, as well as four ministers as observers.
The conference may culminate in the adoption of decisions and reach solutions likely to enhance the global gas market and stabilize prices, especially regarding the spot market, he added.
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum, which has been called the 'gas OPEC', groups together some of the world's leading gas producers.
The energy ministers of the member countries approved the charter of the organization in the 7th GECF ministerial meeting in Moscow on December 23, 2008.
The GECF was established in Tehran in 2001. Until the seventh ministerial meeting in Moscow, it operated without a charter or fixed membership structure.
The GECF has agreed to establish its headquarters in Doha, Qatar, the world's biggest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas.
Since the Moscow meeting, the members are Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela; in addition, Kazakhstan and Norway have observer status.
Gas producers face the challenge of shaping a market, as 70% of gas is sent by pipeline to regional consumers and no global benchmark price exists on an exchange.
Russia, Qatar, and Iran combined own 53.2% of the world's gas reserves. Russia has the world's largest reserves, followed by Iran, Qatar, Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia.