OPEC+ Challenges at Algiers’ 7th GECF Summit

The 7th GECF summit of heads of state and government from the member countries of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, which Algiers will host, from February 29 to March 2, is essential, especially in light of the current global geopolitical context and the threats to supply, the international expert and former Minister of Energy, Noureddine Ait- Laoussine said

Ait-Laoussine called for the creation of a “strategic rapprochement” between the OPEC+ alliance and the forum countries that hold 70% of the world’s gas reserves.

“This summit has become essential given the current geopolitical context, the threats weighing on global energy supplies in the long term, following the reduction of Russian exports, and the growing importance of natural gas in covering energy needs. on a planetary scale,” Ait-Laoussine said in an interview with APS.

In this regard, Ait-Laoussine explained that “the holding of this meeting reflected a desire to strengthen the action of the GECF to protect the interests of exporting countries and to promote the expansion of natural gas”, highlighting the considerable weight of the GECF in the global gas industry, since this group controls 70% of proven-recoverable gas reserves and contributes more than 50% of international trade in this resource.

According to the former minister, the challenge of this meeting for Algeria is clear: ensuring the success of the summit, which will benefit Algeria, a “very involved actor in the development of natural gas and its trade at the international level”.

“Algeria has proven experience in the development of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, in the construction of deep-sea gas pipelines and the design of a balanced long-term sales contract whose framework is still in force today,” he confirmed.

In response to a question regarding the results expected from the summit, which will culminate in the Algiers Declaration, Ait Laoussine explained that “the agreement should underline that the OPEC + alliance and the GECF have common objectives which require a strategic rapprochement.

In the same context, the expert added that “the GECF countries are in almost the entire Southern Hemisphere and are, rightly, all concerned about consolidating the value of gas”.

As a result, Ait-Laoussine asserted, “With the new gas situation which now reserves a good place for natural gas in programs to combat global warming, compared to other fossil fuels, the moment seems propitious for a rebuilding of relations trade between exporters and importers of natural gas. The GECF must step up to the plate.”

Currently, Ait-Laoussine concluded, “the forum must exercise, in practice, more influence on the market whose conditions are, in fact, essentially marked by the evolution of the price of oil (dominated by OPEC), with indexation partially or totally based on the prices published by the oil ‘hubs’ in free markets”.