MOSCOW, Aug 25 BRICS expansion will develop technological and investment cooperation in the gas market — countries can jointly develop their own technologies or produce equipment, commented a senior consultant at Implementa Ivan Timonin.
As a result of the Johannesburg summit, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) officially invited the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia. It is assumed that the full membership of the new countries can begin on January 1.
“In the context of the impact on the gas market, the expansion of the BRICS is of interest not so much in terms of strengthening trade relations, but in terms of developing technological and investment cooperation,” Timonin believes.
In particular, among the countries that will become new members of the organization, Egypt and the UAE, along with Russia, are major exporters of LNG, Iran also plans to enter this market, he said.
The expert added that one of the initiatives within the framework of the new composition of BRICS could be, for example, the joint development of their own technologies for liquefying gas and the production of the necessary equipment.
Gas reserves in the BRICS countries after the expected expansion of the association will double, to about 50% of all world reserves, or almost 94 trillion cubic meters, follows from calculations based on statistical data.