The Euro-Arab Gas Forum will be taking place at Unesco’s headquarters in Paris on 19-20 March 2009.   The Forum will be the first meeting devoted to discussing the specific implications of, and prospects for, the rapid development of gas trade between the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, on the one hand, and Europe, on the other.

It will also be the first time that a number of Arab and African ministers will go to a European capital to debate with more than 25 other senior officials and experts about the hopes raised by the sharp increase in natural gas production in the Middle East and Africa as well as about the various challenges facing the expansion of Euro-Arab gas trade. Andris Piebalgs, European Energy Commissioner, will take part in the Forum.

The hopes are very understandable, both on the side of producing countries, for which natural gas is an important, and sometimes new, source of revenue, and in Europe, where the growth in consumption, the decline in domestic production and its overwhelming dependence on Russia are creating an urgent need to look for new sources of gas, preferably as near as the Middle East and Africa.

This sharing of a common interest explains the explosion in Arab gas exports to Europe, the volume of which has increased by 155% over the past 10 years, boosting Arab countries’ share of Europe’s net gas imports from 22.1% in 1997 to 30.2% in 2007. In the foreseeable future, it looks as though this trend is likely to continue, thanks in particular to the development of Arab countries’ gas production and the commissioning of various export projects in countries that are generally newcomers to the international market, such as Egypt, Yemen and Angola.  For this reason, the fact that these three countries’ Oil or Energy Ministers will be attending the Euro-Arab Gas Forum is particularly significant, and it is with considerable interest that their European counterparts are waiting to hear them outline their gas strategies.

The presence of the Tunisian Minister of Industry and Energy is also noteworthy, given the recent gas discoveries made in Tunisia and the possibility that this country will one day join the ranks of gas exporters.