Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Monday urged energy-rich Turkmenistan to join a fledgling gas forum of natural gas exporters that has drawn comparisons with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
"We are creating something similar to OPEC but with gas and, knowing about the large reserves of gas in Turkmenistan, we invite you to join this organization," Chavez said during a visit to the Turkmen capital Ashgabat.
OPEC members meet regularly to agree their production quotas in order to influence the price of crude oil on global markets.
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum, based in Qatar, was formally set up at a meeting in Moscow last year to coordinate gas policy but officials have insisted it doesn't intend to mimic the role of OPEC.
Turkmenistan, a reclusive ex-Soviet republic bordering the Caspian Sea, has some of the biggest gas reserves in the world but is currently locked in a row with Russia over pricing, which has crippled its export capabilities.
Europe, which depends on Russia for a large part of its natural gas imports, has been eager to engage with Turkmenistan over the possibility of purchasing its gas directly.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, speaking with the often-unpredictable Chavez in front of reporters when the offer of membership was extended, declined to comment.
The Venezuelan leader, who is on a tour of north Africa, the Middle East and former Soviet republics, has already visited Libya, Algeria, Syria and Iran and is due in Belarus and Russia later in the week.
The GECF groups Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.