The presidents of Russia and Algeria, two of the biggest suppliers of natural gas to Europe, were to discuss energy ties in the Kremlin Tuesday amid a drive to create an OPEC-like gas body.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika told Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency in an interview published Tuesday ahead of his meeting with President Vladimir Putin that gas exporters should "coordinate" their energy policies.
"It's clear that countries such as Russia, Qatar and Algeria already play a major role on international gas markets and they should coordinate their activities even more," Bouteflika said.
He also said the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, or GECF, set up in Tehran in 2001, should "play a more active role" and gas suppliers to the European Union should team up against "restrictive laws" on energy imports.
Russia accounts for 45.1% of the E.U.'s gas imports, Norway 24.1% and Algeria 20.6%, with the latter's share expected to rise, according to E.U. data.
European officials have expressed concern over the prospect of closer energy ties between Algeria and Russia, particularly after Russian and Algerian state energy companies OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) and Sonatrach signed a cooperation deal in 2006.
"We can cooperate more on gas supplies to Europe," Algeria's speaker of parliament, Abdelaziz Ziari, told the Vremya Novostei daily. "Algeria and Russia are among the world leaders in gas exports and our countries could coordinate their activities."
The GECF, whose members control around three-quarters of the world's known reserves, is to meet in Moscow later this year and analysts have said it could aim for greater coordination of prices and supplies.
Bouteflika said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had been formed in the 1960s to defend the interests of oil exporters and to ensure oil revenues are shared out fairly.
"This lesson should not be forgotten" by gas exporters, he said.
Bouteflika's first official visit to Moscow follows a trip by Putin to Algiers in 2006 in which Russia wrote off Soviet-era debt in exchange for arms purchases by Algeria of around $7 billion,
But military ties between the two countries were clouded Tuesday after Algeria said it wanted to return 15 Mig-29 fighter jets bought from Russia because of their low quality, Russian newspapers reported.
"The announcement of the annulment of the Algerian contract is the first major scandal in Russia's military-technical cooperation with foreign states," the Izvestia daily said.
On Monday, Kommersant cited an official from Russia's state United Aerospace Corporation saying Russia could take the jets back but only if Algeria agreed to buy different planes.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said military cooperation was on the agenda for the meeting between the Russian and Algerian presidents but declined to give details.