Minister of Petroleum, Dieziani Alison-Madueke, was on Tuesday appointed the President of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) at the 16th Ministerial meeting of the forum in Doha, Qatar.
The meeting was attended by ministers from Algeria, Iran, Libya, Qatar, Russia, UAE, as well as head of delegations from Bolivia, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago Venezuela, Netherlands, Norway and Oman.
The minister was however absent at the meeting due to the ongoing oil workers’ strike in Nigeria which she is trying to resolve.
Alison-Madueke was also appointed President of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on November 27.
Alison-Madueke, who had been the Alternate President, was however absent at the meeting but Nigeria’s Ambassador to Qatar, Ambassador Shuaibu Ahmed, and the Group Executive Director in charge of Gas and Power at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. David Ige, were in attendance.‬
Speaking to journalists at the end of the meeting, the Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar, Dr. Mohammed Saleh Al Sada said the organisation noted that the global gas demand is increasing, while it is decreasing in Europe due to the weak economy and policy measures.
“However, the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trade is increasing and is taking a greater share of global gas trade.
The ministers decided to start the preparations for the Third Gas Summit in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran in 2015,” he said.
GECF, which will hold its 17th Ministerial Meeting in Abuja in 2015, is a gathering of the world’s leading gas producers, being forced by the falling crude oil prices to strengthen the 15- year- old forum to build a mechanism for stability and security of supply and demand for gas.
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