S. A. STARTSEV Candidate of Economic Sciences (Nizhny Tagil) In October 2008, a landmark event for the development of global energy took place in Tehran - Russia, Iran and Qatar signed an agreement on cooperation in the gas sector. After this meeting, a new phrase appeared in Tehran - "Big Gas Troika" (Big Gas Troika) and the neologism "gas OPEC"was fixed in everyday life. The rapidly globalizing gas market requires coordination among major energy exporters. The answer to the sacramental question "Who is Who" in the club of owners of the richest storerooms of "blue gold" is quite obvious at the moment. Moscow, Tehran and Doha have more than half of the world's natural gas at their combined disposal. THREE HEROES ON THE GAS FIELD In the first place is Russia, which in the gas alliance in the event of its transformation into a "gas OPEC", of course, claims the same role as Saudi Arabia in the oil cartel (see Table 1). According to the head of Gazprom, A. Miller, if you associate not with the Russian troika, but with the whole of the world. in any case, with the team, "the role of Russia in this "troika" is fundamental, since Russia in terms of reserves and exports... - number one in the world " 1. In the global scenario of domestic gas consumption, the positions of the "triumvirate" participants are just as significant as in the volume of energy carrier promotion to foreign markets (see Table 2). The 2008 trilateral Agreement provided the framework for the restructuring of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF)* established back in 2001, from a kind of informal "club of interests" to a permanent international governmental organization to ensure reliable and stable supplies of this energy carrier around the world. St. Petersburg, Tehran and Doha have all claimed the role of the capital of the "gas OPEC". As a result of a kind of compromise exchange, the headquarters ended up in Qatar in 2008, and the following year the Russian representative Leonid Bokhanovsky was el ... Read more