Qatar, Iran and Russia have reached an agreement for the creation of a "gas OPEC," according to Iranian oil minister Gholam Hossein Nozari. The announcement was made after negotiations between the Qatari energy minister and Gazprom head Alexey Miller.

"We made important decisions during the meeting. There is a demand to create a 'gas OPEC' and now an agreement has been reached on its creation," Nozari said.

Iran, which has the second largest reserves of natural gas in the world after Russia, first proposed the creation of such an organization. It received Moscow support for the plan.

Russia has the largest reserves of natural gas in the world and is also the largest exporter of the fuel.

Venezuela has also expressed an interest in creating a cartel, as have various Arab League countries, such as Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Russia, Iran, Qatar, Venezuela, Nigeria and Algeria have already met several times as an informal club.

The creation of such a cartel has been opposed by the United States and the European Union, the formation of which, they say, would threaten the energy security of the whole world and lead to price manipulation.

Europe counts on Russia for nearly half of its natural gas imports and is opposed to the formation of any cartel, especially if it is backed by Moscow.

The 27-nation European Union expressed strong opposition to any natural gas cartel Tuesday, with an EU spokesman, Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, saying: "The European Commission feels that energy supplies have to be sold in a free market."

According to US government statistics Russia, Qatar and Iran together account for nearly a third of world natural gas exports. The three hold some 60 per cent of world gas reserves, according to Russia's state-controlled energy company Gazprom.