Technology has long existed to turn the world's stranded natural gas reserves into portable liquefied natural gas (LNG), moving it easily to where there is demand. In the past few years, however, growing world demand for natural gas has made LNG economics-turning the gas into a liquid, shipping it to facilities abroad and regasifying it-more viable. This presents a huge opportunity for gas to become a truly global commodity, creating a worldwide spot market for the energy source. Could key countries that hold more producible natural gas than they need domestically form a "Gas OPEC," controlling price-or more importantly, gas supply? "The dead weight of all the huge capital investment might mitigate against formation of a gas cartel," says Ben Schlesinger of consultancy Benjamin Schlesinger & Associates in Bethesda, Maryland. "And how would LNG customers react?" It's no surprise, however, that major surplus gas producers are at least thinking about it. This past April, a group representing 14 of the largest gas-exporting countries in the world met in Port of Spain, Trinidad, under the banner of a four-year-old group called the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF). The member countries already account for 53% of gas imported to the industrialized nations that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). GECF members are Qatar, Russia, Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Trinidad, UAE and Venezuela. The largest LNG exporters today are Indonesia, Malaysia, Algeria, and Trinidad and Tobago. Qatar and Iran will become leaders soon when infrastructure projects are completed in South Pars Field. (For more on this, see "Energy Opportunities in Qatar," Oil and Gas Investor, September 2004.) Russia, a member of GECF, holds 33% of the world's known gas reserves, or 1,700 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), and will be a key supplier in the future. (For more on this, see "The Russian Energy Sector" in this issue.) Indeed, a deal for the first Russian LNG shipment to North America was recently finalized. But most of Russia's gas will be sold in the traditional way-via pipeline to Europe and to Asia's increasingly gas-hungry China and Japan. The GECF says it wants to promote cooperation between its members and gas-consuming nations and "come up with a fair price," Trinidad energy minister Eric Williams was quoted in press reports. The group does not intend to manage gas nor LNG production, however, Williams added. For more on this, see the October issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-993-9325 Ext. 126.