<\/p>\n
The Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani
\nAllison-Madueke, has been appointed President of the Gas Exporting
\nCountries Forum (GECF) by the body at its 16th Ministerial Meeting on
\nTuesday in Doha, Qatar.
\nThe Chairman of the meeting, Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar, Dr
\nMohammed Saleh Alsada, announced this in a communiqu\u00e9 read at the end of
\nthe meeting.
\nAlsada, who said the meeting also appointed Minister of Oil and Gas, the
\nState of Libya as Alternate President, added that the 17th GECF would be
\nheld in Nigeria in 2015.
\nMadueke was the alternate president of the forum before her appointment in
\nthe substantive office.
\nThe meeting was attended by ministers from Algeria, Iran, Libya, Qatar,
\nRussia and United Arab Emirate, and Heads of Delegation from Bolivia,
\nEquatorial Guinea, Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
\nOthers in attendance include Netherlands, Norway and Oman as Observers.
\nThe Nigerian delegation was led by the country\u2019s Ambassador to Qatar, Mr
\nShuaibu Ahmed, and NNPC\u2019s Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, Dr
\nDavid Ige, representing Alison-Madueke at the forum.
\nThe minister, who was a few days back, appointed President of the
\nOrganization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, was not in attendance
\nbecause she was involved in resolving the oil workers union crisis in
\nNigeria.
\nThe News Agency of Nigeria recalled that PENGASSAN and NUPENG on Monday
\nembarked on three-day warning strike over a long list of demands which
\nincluded the adoption of the delayed Petroleum Industry Bill.
\nThe bill is aimed at overhauling the sector and maintenance work on oil
\nrefineries.
\nAlsada said the thrust of the meeting was on how to strengthen the gas
\nmarket in the face of challenges of fall in the oil price.
\nHe said the meeting discussed the global gas market report presented by
\nthe Secretary-General, Dr Hossein Adeli, which covered the latest
\ndevelopments in the energy market in general and in gas market in
\nparticular.
\nThe meeting, according to him, also considered other development which
\nincluded but not limited to short term trend of supply and demand for
\nnatural gas worldwide and specific regions and countries.
\nOther issues discussed included the evolution of LNG trade across the
\nregions, development of the gas prices as well as accessing the complexity
\nand dynamics of the global natural gas market in the short, medium and
\nlong term.
\nAlsada said the meeting reiterated the need to monitor the challenges of
\nthe gas industry, stressing that the secretariat would continue the
\nevaluation of development occurring in the energy market, with a focus on
\nthe supply and demand.
\nAccording to him, the ministers also note that global demand for gas is
\nincreasing while it is decreasing in Europe due to weak economy and policy
\nmeasures.
\nHe said, however, the LNG trade was increasing and taking a greater share
\nof global gas trade.
\nAlsada said the ministers decided to start the preparations for the third
\nGas Summit in Teharn iin 2015.
\nThe chairman said the meeting also approved Peru as the new observer
\nmember of GECF.
\nThe Nigerian ambassador, who responded on behalf of the minister, said
\nNigeria appreciated the honour done it by the appointment.
\n\u201cThis shows the tremendous honour and respect that he global oil and gas
\nindustry has in Nigeria,\u201d she said. (NAN)
\nIAA\/MO\/IA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madueke, has been appointed President of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) by the body at its 16th Ministerial Meeting on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n