ASHGABAT, September 7 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez suggested on Monday that the gas-rich Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan join a gas cartel.

"We are creating a gas OPEC and are proposing that you study the issue of joining this organization," Chavez told his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, before the start of a Venezuela-Turkmenistan summit.

Chavez, who is on a visit to Turkmenistan, said that the gas cartel would include Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

The United States and some other Western countries vehemently oppose the idea of a gas cartel, fearing that it would attempt to dictate global gas prices in a similar way to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The Turkmen president remarked that according to expert estimates Turkmenistan ranked fourth in the world in terms of natural gas reserves after Russia, Iran and Qatar, with the South Eleten gas field alone boasting 14 trillion cubic meters of gas.

Berdymukhammedov said the Venezuelan president's visit was a historic milestone in developing and strengthening bilateral relations.

In turn, Chavez said that his visit marked the start of a new history. "We want Venezuela and Turkmenistan to come closer and also bring closer to each other the Caribbean basin, South America and Central Asia - the ancient civilization that was hidden during the existence of the Soviet Union."