IGU Autumn Executive Committee & Council Meetings, 22-25 Oct 2007, St Petersburg

22 Oct 2007

The International Gas Union (IGU) will conduct the '2030 Natural Gas Industry Outlook‘ study with the formation of a special panel to undertake the initiative. This is the first that such a study is conducted by IGU in the area of gas industry outlook. What started out as a purely technical organisation, IGU has, in its 76 years of existence, broadened its scope to include policy analysis, industry outlook and intra and international exchange of information. The organisation, with a membership roster of 69 charter country members and 30 associate members, now aims at increasing its profile to play a more pertinent role in industry development and policy advocate.

The IGU Executive and Council Meetings held in St Petersburg from 22 to 25 October, 2007 also outlined the Triennial Work Programme (TWP) activities. A round table discussion was held on key drivers for security of demand and supply in the world gas industry with insightful discussions between panelists from International Energy Agency (IEA), Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) and Gazprom and the attendees.

The meeting also saw the introduction of the ‘IGU Gas Efficiency Award’, in line with the objective to advance the responsible use of gas. Designed to elicit and evoke new ideas in obtaining better efficiency in the use of gas, the competition is open to all IGU members. Members of the academia as well as industry players are invited to propose feasible and achievable gas efficiency projects, and the proposal offering the most substantial improvement in gas efficiency will be awarded a prize of EUR 10,000.

The organisation is also actively gearing up for the 24th World Gas Conference (WGC) in Buenos Aires in 2009. An interesting feature will be a photography contest covering all aspects of the gas industry. This contest is open to all member nations, which will culminate in an exhibition of winning entries during the WGC 2009.

The Malaysian delegation to the IGU Executive and Council Meetings was headed by PETRONAS' Vice- President of Research & Technology Division, Datuk (Dr) Abdul Rahim Hashim, who is also the Vice President of IGU. Also present were PETRONAS Gas Business VP, Encik Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin; Managing Director/CEO of PETRONAS Management Training Sdn Bhd and Vice-Chairman of IGU Coordination Committee, Mr Ho Sook Wah; and General Manager of PETRONAS' Corporate Information & Research Unit and Chairman of the IGU Programme Committee on Developing Gas Markets, Dr Mohd Farid Mohd Amin. Encik Wan Zulkiflee, who is also a member of the IGU Executive Committee, took the opportunity to pay a courtesy call on the Deputy Chairman of Gazprom of Russia, Mr Alexander Medvedev.

The meeting concluded with a technical tour of Lentransgaz Ltd a subsidiary of the major Russian natural gas supplier Gazprom. This included a briefing on a pipeline system of over 10,000 km covering areas from Northern to Central Europe, with some running through the areas of permafrost. Top