The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is an intergovernmental organization currently comprising 19 Member Countries of the world's leading natural gas producers: Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela are members and Angola, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Mozambique, Malaysia, Norway, Peru and the United Arab Emirates are observers.

Vladimir Putin, on a visit to Qatar, one of the largest gas-producing countries, reached an agreement with the Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani to coordinate activities in the gas sector.

At the 6th Ministerial Meeting of the GECF in Doha, it was decided to create a working group under the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Energy of Russia to coordinate actions to form a full-fledged organization.

As a result, the agreement on the establishment of the organization with the preservation of the name of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum was signed a year later on December 23, 2008 at the 7th Ministerial Meeting in Moscow.

On December 9, 2009 the Secretary General of the GECF was elected vice-president of "Stroytransgaz" Leonid Bokhanovskiy,[4] whose candidacy was put forward for a vote by Russia.

According to GECF analysts, the key to the successful development of the global gas industry is the growth of the economy and population.

However, in 2020, analysts announced that due to the minimum oil price and the consequences of the pandemic, this forecast could be revised.

According to the Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil, this mean that in the long term the GECF will move toward becoming a gas OPEC.

[12] On 11 December 2009, Russia's Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko stated: "Today we can speak about gas OPEC as a fully fledged international organization.

[14][15] According to GECF General Secretary Yuri Sentyurin, the issue of creating the creation of a "gas OPEC " is regularly raised at ministerial meetings.

In addition, the forum was originally conceived as a discussion platform, therefore, without changing the Charter, it is premature to talk about practical instruments by analogy with OPEC.

The key outcomes of the 2nd GECF Summit were reflected in the Moscow Declaration: "Natural gas: the answer to the 21st century sustainable development challenges.

"[33] The final communique stresses the importance of the fundamental principles of long-term contracts that guarantee the safety of investments for producers and preservation of prices for consumers.

The main topics were the transfer of expertise of members countries and pricing mechanism for natural gas.

[38] The Sixth Gas Summit of Heads of State and Government of GECF Member Countries will convey in Doha, Qatar on 18 November 2021.

The members are Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and Angola, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Norway, Peru and the United Arab Emirates are observers.