Minister Hails Bolivia
Joining Gas Exporting
Countries
La Paz - Minister of
Hydrocarbons Saul Avalos
hailed Wednesday
Bolivia's joining of the
15-member Gas Exporting
Countries Forum (GECF).
Bolivia "must feel proud
and happy for being in
the list of the gas
exporter countries in
the world. We are
talking of an
organization potentially
economic," Avalos said
in a telephone interview
with Bolivia's Red
Patria Nueva radio.
World gas producers
Tuesday approved in
Moscow a charter for the
GECF, which will be
headquartered in Doha,
Qatar.
The main goal of the new
group is to monitor the
gas market and conduct
joint research. GECF
countries have agreed to
exchange information
concerning investment
programs, and cooperate
in the fields such as
marketing, technology
and liquefied natural
gas.
The countries did not
rule out possible
coordination on price
and discussed the
pricing mechanism of the
gas market at the
meeting.
Avalos, who is attending
the forum in Moscow,
said that Russia showed
its interest in
increasing investments
in Bolivia's gas and oil
fields.
Russian energy
consortium Gazprom will
send a technical mission
to Bolivia next month to
assess the gas potential
in Bolivia, planning a 4
million U.S. dollar
investment in the
country, he said.
The GECF includes
Algeria, Bolivia,
Brunei, Egypt,
Indonesia, Iran, Libya,
Malaysia, Nigeria,
Qatar, Russia, Trinidad
and Tobago, the United
Arab Emirates and
Venezuela, plus
Equatorial Guinea, which
was granted full
membership at the
current forum.
Kazakhstan and Norway
were granted the
observer status.
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