Celebrating the 170th Anniversary of the Central European Gas Industry

In the year when The Slovak Gas and Oil Association is commemorating its 170th anniversary, the Central European Gas Conference marked this special celebration with a keynote address by the President of the International Gas Union, Mr Andrea Stegher.

The Gas industry in the broader Central European region has a long history, marked by numerous transformations that have been an integral part of its development over the decades. The resilience and proven expertise of the sector will be essential also to overcome the present challenges.

This year’s Conference addressed some of the biggest challenges affecting the Central European region, and debated whether a trilateral co-operation between governments, industry and consumers would be the key to overcoming them. Fundamental to the conversation were the issues related to sovereign national interests with regard to energy security, and the future of the Gas industry in this part of Europe.

In his remarks, Mr Stegher argued that “[…] in the European area, and for quite some time, our industry had to fight and push back against ideology and dogmatism about the energy’s present and the energy’s future.

Energy demand was projected to decline, and Gas was considered a temporary necessary but unwanted solution, with various government and regulatory policies stopping the Gas and Gas infrastructure investments support and even banning, or proposing to ban, its use in some sectors.

The world’s hunger for energy is nowhere near satiated, on the contrary: as more people and economies are lifted from either energy or economic poverty, the energy demand will only grow from here, as we – the International Gas Union – have constantly argued that it would.

We must continue investing in Gas and Gas infrastructure development, at the right scale and at the appropriate time- and the time is now - to avoid risks for the overall long-term energy scenario, negatively affecting energy security, energy affordability and the environmental challenges that we need to address.”