A meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) on December 2nd in Doha ended with a unanimous call for establishing parity between oil and gas prices, but without agreement on a mechanism for doing so. The forum, which brings together the energy ministers of 14 gas-producing countries, could not agree on the need to establish an OPEC-style cartel to regulate supply and demand, in an effort to boost gas prices. The most vociferous opposition came from the Russian energy minister, Sergei Shmatko, who declared that "achieving a fair price for natural gas does not mean imposing restrictions on production, or seeking quotas for production". He disagreed with the Venezuelan energy minister, Rafael Ramírez, who argued that gas prices must be regulated to allow greater parity with oil prices. Algeria's oil minister, Youcef Yousfi, agreed with Mr Shmatko, saying that the gas market was built on long-term contracts (between sellers and buyers), and that he did not think it was the time to change that. Qatar's stand remains sceptical, with Mr Attiyah saying that he wished the GECF could control gas prices, while casting doubt on its ability to actually do so. Qatar has long been opposed to limiting the supply of gas on the world market, largely because it holds a major competitive price advantage over most other producers. The ministers did, however, vow to work closely to develop a stable and transparent gas market and noted the progress being made by the GECF secretariat in developing a working plan for the forum for the 2011-15 period.

Despite rising oil prices, the price of gas has been in decline, as an increase in supply-thanks largely to shale gas extraction in the US-and weak demand have pushed the Henry Hub price down to US$4.26/mBtu (equivalent to an oil price of around US$24.70/barrel).