Update on the 27th World Gas Conference

By Jay Copan

x  The Walter E.

Washington Convention Center will play host to the 27th World Gas Conference, promising an innovative programme focused around Access, Markets and Social Licence.

The 27th World Gas Conference (WGC) is now less than nine months away and plans are moving along very well. The event will be held June 25-29, 2018 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (WEW) in Washington DC. The WEW is located in the centre of Washington DC; all hotel rooms are within an 18 minute walk of the venue. The three-year-old 1,100 room Marriott Marquis will be the headquarters hotel and it will host all of the IGU meetings associated with the WGC. The Marriott is directly across the street from the WEW.

Early bird registration for the WGC opened in late May, and the WGC team is very pleased with the strong level of registrations that has been seen to date. Early bird registration closes on January 31, 2018. To ensure access to rooms at the Marriott Marquis all IGU members are encouraged to take advantage of the early bird registration opportunity.

The response and feedback that has been received regarding the overall WGC programme has been fantastic. We are very pleased that over 40 keynote speakers, representing the leaders of the global energy industry, as well as a significant number of policymakers, have confirmed their participation in the WGC. And, thanks to the efforts of the National Organising Committee (NOC), under the direction of Dave McCurdy, President and CEO of the American Gas Association, these keynote sessions will truly set the global stage for the outlook for the natural gas industry for years to come.

Likewise, the level of interest in the Current Debate sessions has been outstanding. These 22 sessions will address, at a very senior level, the most timely and topical strategic and commercial issues facing the global gas industry. The Current Debates will cover the entire global gas value chain, and the dozens of already confirmed senior level speakers will provide invaluable insights into these topics.

Thanks to the efforts of the IGU committees and task forces, we have had an exceptional response to our Call for Abstracts, which closed on September 1, 2017. The 70 Industry Insight sessions and Technical and Innovation Center sessions being coordinated by the IGU committees and task forces have received a substantial number of abstracts, and as of this article, are currently being reviewed. These 70 sessions will focus on the most timely and topical technical, commercial and strategic issues across the global gas industry and will cover the full gas value chain from upstream to downstream.

WGC 2018 continues to engage a wide variety of constituencies as part of the pro

v  All IGU meetings

associated with the WGC will be held at the Marriott Marquis adjacent to the Convention Center.

gramme and exhibition. For example, just some of these groups include:

This past June, the WGC 2018 team conducted a standing room only briefing for Members of the US Congress and their staffs on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. We are very pleased that over 15 Members of Congress have signed on as Honorary Members of our NOC.

In September, in conjunction with the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC, the WGC 2018 team hosted a special briefing for members of the Diplomatic Community, as well as for policymakers, think tanks and industry leaders.

Outreach is continuing with the global financial community and the team is very pleased with the active participation by this key constituency in all phases of the WGC.

WGC 2018 will feature a very special Young future leadership of the global gas industry. To this end we are very pleased to announce that we are working closely with the thousands of members of the Young Professionals in Energy organisation.

Within the 40,000m ² exhibition, there will be a number of special pavilions focusing on: Robotics and Automation; Gas as a Transportation Fuel; Showcase America; Sustainable Energy and others. Over 90% of the exhibition space is already allocated.

There is only ONE World Gas Conference. It is owned by the International Gas Union and 2018 will be the first year in which a significant Professionals Programme, designed for the

portion of the financial proceeds are returned to IGU. All IGU members are encouraged to register early and include many colleagues in their delegations. Please take advantage of the early bird registration opportunity.

The WGC team is especially pleased to thank all of our sponsors, and our two critical partners – ETF on all sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, and the CWC Group, handling all aspects of the Conference itself, including providing one-stop shopping for all your registration and accommodation needs.

We welcome any and all suggestions regarding WGC 2018. Feel free to contact me personally at jcopan@wgc2018.com. We are under nine months out from WGC 2018 and it is full speed ahead! All of us on the WGC team look forward to welcoming you to Washington DC in June 2018.

Jay Copan is Executive Director, WGC 2018, and serves as the Special Advisor to the President of the International Gas Union.

Delegates to WGC 2018, the world’s largest natural gas conference, can look forward to the most innovative World Gas Conference programme ever conducted. Visit wgc2018.com/ program and take advantage of the handy selection tools to create a personalised programme schedule specifically for your needs.

The Exhibition at WGC 2018 is also on track to be the largest ever and includes a range of innovations to support the objectives from exhibiting E&P companies, EPCs, OEMs and specialist providers. Exhibitors can look forward to doing business with the expected 12,000 delegates, trade visitors and other exhibitors from around 100 countries who will attend. For exhibition and sponsorship details contact exhibition@wgc2018.com.

Rodney Cox, IGU Events Director. Rodney is available to assist IGU Members with all of the events in IGU’s portfolio. He can be contacted at rcox1@outlook.com.au.