Gas exporters create new group as Putin warns "cheap" prices at an end

"The expenses necessary for developing fields are rising sharply, and this means that despite the current problems in finances the era of cheap energy resources, of cheap gas, is of course coming to an end," Mr Putin said at the meeting in Moscow.

The members of the loose group of gas producers known as the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) signed a joint charter in Moscow for a new group to monitor the gas market, conduct joint research and coordinate policy.

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Following the meeting, Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev said: "This is a gas Non-Opec."

"There are no mechanisms which the 'oil OPEC' uses which could be applied to the gas market. Quota arrangement is impossible in the gas market in principle," he said.

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Gas transport involves the construction of expensive pipelines and is sold through long-term contacts. Oil is bought by the barrel, with shorter-dated time frames. However, with the growing use of liquified natural gas (LNG), a spot market is now starting to develop.