Neither Russia, nor other members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum are seeking to create a cartel of gas exporters, Russia's deputy minister for energy said Tuesday.
"There are no talks about a cartel which defines production quotas," Anatoly Yanovsky said at the World Petroleum Congress.
Yanovsky said the main task of the GECF is to create a formal organization, introduce a membership fee and use the proceeds to study global demand, growing opportunities of the liquefied natural gas market, new technologies and infrastructural challenges.
"The Forum is not a structured organization right now, and we need to institutionalize it", the deputy minister said.
He said the GECF isn't a closed club, as Norway is already attending meetings as an observer, and the Netherlands and France have applied to participate at the ministerial meeting to be held in Moscow later this year.
Talk of a "gas OPEC" for gas gained momentum in 2006 when Europe's two main natural gas suppliers, OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) of Russia and Algeria's Sonatrach, signed a partnership accord.
Talk of an organization to control gas prices and output, an idea first put forward by Iran - has alarmed Western countries, which rely heavily on gas imports.
Founded in 2001, the GECF is an informal organization of 15 countries. It includes Russia, Iran, Qatar, Venezuela and Algeria, which together control 72% of world gas reserves and 42% of production.
With the exception of Russia, most of the leading gas producers are also members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Yanovsky said consumers can rely on Russia for supply energy. He said Russia has enough oil and gas to fill all the current and planned pipelines.
"All our infrastructure projects are supported by our resources", he said.
Some analysts have recently voiced concerns that with Russia's oil and gas production stagnating and domestic demand growing, the country would find it difficult to honor all its export contracts.
Yanovsky also brushed off concerns that Russia is trying to nationalize its oil and gas resources by squeezing international private companies out of major fields.
"One should not talk of nationalization, because that's when the state takes something which belongs to the others," he said. "But we are talking about something which belongs to the state."
The deputy minister said the "rules of the game" for the foreign oil and gas companies that want to work in Russia are now clear and transparent.