Russia’s Novak dismisses gas OPEC idea

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview that there were no plans to create an international natural gas cartel similar to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Russia is a part of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), sometimes dubbed the “gas OPEC”.

Russia has cut its gas supplies to Europe, once its main source of revenues from energy sales, by around two-thirds amid political fallout over Ukraine. Moscow is cranking up oil and gas sales to Asia and eyeing a significant increase in exports of sea-borne liquefied natural gas.

“There are no discussions to set up a (gas) cartel,” Novak told RT Arabic TV. He said the work of the GECF was “mostly about exchanging views”.