On October 29th -31st, the 15th Gas Information Exchange in the Western Pacific Area was hosted in Hangzhou, China under the theme of “Maximizing Gas Benefits”. This is the second time China held the Chair of GASEX, and Ms. Li Yalan, Vice President of IGU, Chair of GASEX and Executive Chair of China Gas Association hosted the Conference Opening.
IGU Vice-President Madam Li Yalan delivered remarks on “Maximizing Gas Benefits” as China aims to became the second largest gas consuming country in the world. She analyzed the development prospects as well as the challenges of the Chinese city gas industry under the new policy launched by the government regarding Enhancing the Construction of Natural Gas Production, Supply, Storage, and Sales. She pointed out that China has already become the third largest gas consuming country and the sixth largest production country, the third largest importer of gas and second largest LNG importer. The Chinese gas industry still has significant room for further growth but is facing challenges including seasonality, lack of infrastructure, in particular, storage capacity, and a high import price. She encouraged the city gas sector to step up contributions to the development of the gas industry through storage capacity building, enhancing public understanding of the benefits of gas and encouraging utilization technical innovation. She pointed out that China may become the second largest gas consumer in the world by 2024.
IGU President Prof. Joe Kang attended the conference and delivered a speech on the “Current Challenges in the Global Gas Industry and IGU’s Plans Under the Korean Presidency”. He pointed out that cost competitiveness, security of supply and sustainability are requirements and measures to achieve global gas growth. While policy plays a critical role for shaping gas market development, China has adopted various policy measure to drive rapid growth of gas across all sectors and made remarkable achievements in improving air quality. China is a case in point how policy supports the development of gas industry which in turn improves people’s living quality. He then made suggestions on different regions to enhance their policy support to facilitate the growth of the gas
industry from the previously mentioned three measures.
Immediate past President Mr. David Carroll introduced key themes and takeaways from WGC2018 and shared the top 10 global gas developments in 2017. He also shared the latest developments of global gas industry from production, trade, LNG and gas price.
GASEX was founded in 1988 as a non-governmental organization to facilitate the development of the gas industry in Asia and Western Pacific Area. The GASEX conference is hosted once every two years with an exhibition of the latest developments in gas facilities and technologies. 700 delegates from 15 countries and regions attended the conference and 370 exhibitors participated in the exhibition. exhibitors participated in the exhibition, which covers areas of 35,000 square meters.
Full press release: Gasex Release 021118.pdf
For further information please contact:
Menelaos (Mel) Ydreos
Director, External Affairs
International Gas Union (IGU)
Tel: +1-416-568-8382
Email: mydreos@igu.org
About The International Gas Union (IGU)
The International Gas Union (IGU) was founded in 1931 and is a worldwide non-profit organisation aimed at promoting the political, technical and economic progress of the gas industry. The Union has more than 150 members worldwide on all continents, representing approximately 97% of the world gas market. The members of the IGU are national associations and corporations within the gas industry worldwide. The IGU organises the World Gas Conference (WGC) every three years, with the next edition of the WGC taking place in Korea, June 2021. The IGU’s working organisation covers all aspects of the gas industry from exploration and production, storage, LNG, distribution and natural gas utilisation in all market segments. igu.org