The sixth summit of the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries takes place on February 20-22 in Doha under the patronage of the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Currently, the gas coalition unites 12 leading natural gas producing countries that control 72% of its proven reserves, 46% of production, 55% of pipeline gas exports and 61% of liquefied natural gas supplies.

The summit with the participation of heads of states and governments, ministers is held under the slogan "Natural gas: defining the future of energy." Forum participants are Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela. Azerbaijan, the Netherlands, Norway, Iraq, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have the status of observers.

Earlier, the leadership of the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries mentioned that Turkmenistan could also join the organization.

Diplomats who took part in the preparatory meetings stated that the group, which also does not include key Australian and US producers, will discuss ways of increasing production over the medium term.

The Forum is likely to reiterate its message to Europe that it needs to sign long-term contracts to secure gas supplies.

All producing countries will have to make huge investments to increase production. The natural gas industry is capital intensive, with long lead times and payback periods. This ensures the stability of policy and regulation. It also requires fair value and a fair distribution of risk among all stakeholders to maintain the security of demand as well as the security of supply.

Lack of investment today will make gas unaffordable tomorrow. At the same time, at present, more than three billion people on the planet still do not have access to environmentally friendly fuels for cooking, which is natural gas.