A senior Kremlin adviser said Tuesday that Russia doesn’t intend to initiate the creation of a global natural gas cartel, but said such a project couldn’t be totally ruled out.

Arkady Dvorkovich, a top economic aide to President Vladimir Putin, said that Russia hopes to be able to protect its interests by signing long-term contracts and swapping assets with the European Union nations. “Creating cartels is a possible, but not necessarily the most efficient way of solving problems,” he told reporters, adding that “under no circumstances would we initiate or insist on that.”

However, Dvorkovich said, “If all major gas producers are interested in reaching such an agreement, its creation is possible.”

“No possibilities should be excluded, but I don’t think it will happen,” he said.

The Financial Times reported Tuesday on a confidential study by NATO economic experts that warned Russia may be seeking to build a gas cartel including Algeria, Qatar, Libya, the countries of Central Asia and perhaps Iran. The newspaper cited the experts as warning that an “OPEC for gas” would strengthen Moscow’s leverage over Europe.

Russia already provides 44 percent of EU gas imports, and its share of EU energy supplies is expected to grow as demands for imports increase.

Russia has been involved in tough talks with the EU, which urged it to open its vast energy resources and export pipelines to European investors. Moscow bristled at EU concerns about Europe’s over-reliance on Russian energy exports, saying that Russia could shift its future oil and gas exports to China to satisfy that country’s growing appetite for energy.

Putin and other officials insisted on a strong state role in the energy sector and urged EU nations to offer its economic assets in exchange for EU companies’ role in exploring Russia’s mineral riches.

“Our relations must be based on mutual dependence of producers and consumers of energy resources,” Dvorkovich said. “Such mutual dependence is possible on the basis of long-term contracts, exchange of assets, strategic partnership deals on both companies’ and national level.”

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