Natural Gas Cartel: Iran, Qatar, Russia. And "Today's Word is Monopsony..."

From the Wall Street Journal:

Iran, Qatar and Russia have agreed to form an OPEC-style organization for gas-exporting countries, Iran's oil minister said Tuesday after a trilateral meeting in Tehran.

The move will give Russia a greater say in international sales of natural gas and comes on the same day that OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri arrived in Moscow to meet government officials.

Observers are watching those talks closely for signs of exactly what Russia wants from closer ties with the cartel, although there is no suggestion at this stage that Moscow is seeking full membership or would participate in an expected supply cut to be discussed Friday....MORE

Here's a post from last November, "Today's Word is Monopsony: mə-ˈnäp-sə-nē. And, What are Chavez and OPEC up to?":

Hugo Chavez is a blowhard who happens to be the dictator of an OPEC member with a lot of oil. Perhaps it's time to explore the ramifications of today's word. From Wikipedia:
UPDATE below

In economics, a monopsony (from Ancient Greek μόνος (monos) "single" + ὀψωνία (opsōnia) "purchase") is a market form with only one buyer, called "monopsonist," facing many sellers. It is an instance of imperfect competition, symmetrical to the case of a monopoly, in which there is only one seller facing many buyers. The term "monopsony" was first introduced by Joan Robinson[1] (1933). The term "monopsony power", in a manner similar to "monopoly power" is used by economists as a short hand reference to buyers who face an upwardly sloping supply curve but that are not the only buyer; better, but more cumbersome terms may be oligopsony or monopsonistic competition. A monopsonist may be at the same time a monopolist....MORE

Mr. Chavez seems to be preparing for something....