The Gas Exporting Countries Forum, or GECF, has appointed Russia's Leonid Bokhanovsky as General Secretary, Russia's energy ministry said Wednesday.
Iran, Egypt, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago had put forward nominations for the renewable two-year post.
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum, based in Qatar, was formally set up at a meeting in Moscow last year to co-ordinate gas policy.
Officials have insisted it doesn't intend to mimic the role of the OPEC oil group.
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.