House Foreign Affairs Committee U.S. House of Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Republican
	For Immediate Release April 30, 2008	Contact:  Sam Stratman, (202) 226-7875 Alex Cruz, (202) 225-8200
	Ros-Lehtinen Urges Action to Stop “Gas OPEC” Natural gas exporting countries threaten to establish cartel
	(WASHINGTON) – Member nations of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum meeting today in Tehran are threatening to establish a natural gas cartel similar to OPEC.  Representatives from Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, among others, are discussing behind closed doors how to establish a cartel to control the supply and cost of natural gas worldwide. Their announced model is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which sets supply and price targets for oil worldwide. In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed H.Res. 500, a resolution authored by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, that declared the establishment of a natural gas cartel to be a threat to U.S. national security interests.  The resolution urged the U.S. and its allies to act to prevent the establishment of a cartel and to reduce their dependence on imported natural gas. The U.S. is largely self-sufficient in natural gas, but its imports are projected to rapidly increase over the next few years. Statement of Ros-Lehtinen: At a time when American consumers are facing staggering increases in gasoline prices due in large part to the OPEC oil cartel, the United States cannot allow the creation of another global extortion racket, this time for natural gas.  The establishment of a “gas OPEC” would constitute a major new threat to the security and to the economic well-being of the United States, our allies, and the world as a whole. In addition to economic extortion, Iran and other U.S. opponents have openly stated their intent to use this cartel as an instrument for political purposes. If we are to prevent the rise of this new threat, we must develop a joint strategy with our allies and all countries that are importers of natural gas, including by diversifying sources and increasing access to international markets through construction of new pipelines. We must keep in mind that a number of gas exporting countries, including Canada, Trinidad, and Qatar, are friends of the U.S.  We must seek to enlist their assistance in stopping this menace before it becomes a reality that, once established, may be with us forever. ######