Advocacy

The Digitalisation Task Force (TFD) will be dedicated to: transforming the digital concept into digital means and actions, promoting the innovative application of digital technologies and their convergence with energy technologies, cultivating a digitalised ecology for gas production and operation, product innovation, user service and industrial systems, and improving the sustainability of the gas industry. TFD will boost the sharing of cases to provide guidance and best practices and improve industry-wide collaborative innovation, operation efficiency and value creation. The achievement of TFD will be presented in a comprehensive report on "digitalisation + gas". Note: Work plans of the Strategy Committee, Carbon Neutrality Task Force and Strategic Communications and Outreach Task Force may be updated accordingly upon the confirmation of their Chairs.

The general theme for the committee for this Triennium is how climate change affects the energy industry. The committee will focus on: The narrative for the global gas industry, including analysing the outcome of COP26 (and future COPs) and what this means for the IGU members, identifying and prioritising key issues for the gas industry, developing messages/storylines on how to react as an industry to the climate challenge and shape social support; Social media for the gas industry's benefits; Innovation in marketing- illustrating how the use of innovative marketing and communications can influence stakeholders and decision makers to support the adoption of new natural gas technologies.

The basic objective of the Gas Markets Committee is to analyse and identify key market levers and drivers, emerging issues and challenges in developing gas markets and potentially offer strategic options in growing the gas markets based on lessons learnt from other regions of the world. The committee's efforts will focus on: Regional gas markets development; Greening the gas markets; Impact of pandemics on gas markets.

The gas industry will follow the carbon neutrality approach in energy transition and adopt a forward-looking perspective in upgrading the energy mix. Gas should be considered as a fundamental fuel in the clean, sustainable energy mix for the future and a contributor to the targets of the Paris Agreement. The Carbon Neutrality Task Force (TFN) will promote the decarbonisation of natural gas (through methane production) and emission reduction technologies (such as CCUS) to accelerate the transformation of natural gas. It will study the integration of natural gas with other gases, enhance the compatibility of natural gas infrastructure with new gases to add value to the gas industrial chain, and promote the progress of gas technologies to create a favourable policy environment for the new-gases industry.

The committee recognises that the combination of the devastating effects of the global pandemic on wellbeing and economies, coupled with the volatile oil & gas prices and growing apathy towards fossil fuels, has created an unprecedented "Next-Normal" scenario for global economic recovery and growth in which natural gas has an important role to play as the hybrid-energy source of the future. The committee will focus on: Adopting enabling digital technologies and best practices that will improve well/field performance in an efficient and economical manner, and bringing to market commercially sustainable technology solutions to difficult problems.

The committee focuses on the advocacy of clean solutions for either small or large scale usages of natural gas and as transportation fuel, for a sustainable future. It will concentrate on five prioritised issues: strengthen the committee with a greater number of companies and associations represented; establish cooperation with equipment manufacturers and solution developers; sustainable energy technologies providing better solutions in the use of RNG for the new transportation challenges; integration with the electricity sector, understanding local realities and share best practices and case studies; synergy with other IGU committees, promoting joint meetings and cooperate in the exchange and generation of content.

Underground storage of natural gas is and will continue to be a critical component of the natural gas value chain.

The Coordination Committee contributes to the preparation of the programme for the World Gas Conference and maintains overall responsibility for the IGU committees.