Russia, Iran, Qatar discuss OPEC-style gas cartel

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jbcV-6jA645GdBXJLw9eJfrYLiBgD93UT0S01

By NASSER KARIMI – 43 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran, Russia and Qatar discussed the formation of an OPEC-style cartel among some of the largest natural gas producing nations on Tuesday, a prospect that has unnerved energy-importing nations in Europe and the United States.

The meeting appeared to be the first serious talks about the creation of such a cartel since Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, first raised the idea in January 2007.

The prospect has raised concern in the United States and around the 27-nation European Union, which depends on Russia for nearly half of its natural gas imports. Moscow, which controls many of the European pipelines delivering gas from Russia and Central Asia, already has a tight hold on supplies. snip

A leaked confidential study by NATO economic experts in 2006 had warned that Russia may be seeking to build a gas cartel including Algeria, Qatar, Libya, the countries of Central Asia and perhaps Iran, and cautioned that an OPEC-like near monopoly would strengthen Moscow's leverage over Europe.

Because of growing demand and lessening supplies, the United States also has increasingly relied on natural gas imports in recent years.