Geopolitical Opportunities of the Islamic World in the Organization of Gas Exporting Countries

In 2008, the Organisation of Gas Exporting Countries (OGEC) was formally established with 11 members in Doha, Qatar. While having economic and business nature, the organisation is seen as the Gas OPEC, having the potential for changing the geo-strategic and geopolitical structure of the World. Therefore, it is regarded as a threat by Europe and the US to the security of their energy supply. Islamic countries, namely, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Indonesia, Qatar, Brunei, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, and Kazakhstan constitute 9 of its 11 members. The increasing importance of gas as a clean energy source, economic dependence of the West especially Europe on importing gas, compliance of the Western defense and military industry with variations in the gas market, changes in the geopolitical and geo-economic map of the world and the weakening of the role of the US and West in the global economy have increased the influence of OGEC members, especially Iran and Russia vis-à-vis the West and the US. This has also provided a background for the convergence of Islamic members of the OGEC, and the formation a regional economic-political alliance among Islamic countries resulting in the increased geopolitical weight of the Muslim world against the West and the United States. In the present paper, besides studying the capacity of Muslim countries in the OGEC, the possibility of enhancing the status of the Islamic world in the geopolitical system of the world, through the organization, has been analysed.