Russian Energy Ministry officials have announced that leading gas exporters will gather in Moscow to strengthen their cooperation.

The officials said members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) will meet in Moscow on December 23, the Associated Press reported.

The meeting will focus on a new charter aimed at formalizing the loose grouping of gas producers.

Representatives from Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the UAE and Venezuela -- members of the GECF -- have been holding meetings since 2001.

The gas body, however, has no formal membership or management.

The meeting will come as energy consumers fear that Russia, Iran and Qatar -- which hold more than 50 percent of the world's proven natural gas reserves -- may be planning to establish an OPEC-like gas organization.

MD/AA