WGC 2018 – A Resounding Success

WGC 2018 – A Resounding Su ccess!

IGU’s triennial World Gas Conference (WGC) is the largest and most influential global gas event and the 27th edition set a high standard. By Jay Copan

On June 29, 2018, the 27th World Gas Conference came to a close, following a week of tremendous, but cautious, optimism for the future of the global gas industry. By all measures, and according to feedback provided by over 2,100 responses to a post-WGC follow-up survey, the event was truly a resounding success.

Seven years earlier, on October 6, 2011, the USA IGU bid team, led by IGU President-nominee David Carroll, WGC 2018 NOC Chairman-nominee Dave McCurdy, IGU Coordination Committee Chair-nominee Mel Ydreos and myself as proposed WGC 2018 Executive Director, made its presentation to the IGU Council meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The focus of the USA IGU bid was on three “V’s”: raising the Voice of gas around the world, increasing the Visibility of IGU and providing greater Value to IGU members. With the conclusion of the USA Presidency at WGC 2018, with the Dubrovnik team still intact, and based on feedback from conference attendees as well as IGU participants in the USA triennium, it is clear that the USA Presidency, and ultimately the WGC, was successful in achieving the goals laid out seven years earlier.

A transformative event

The first vice chairman of the American Gas Association (AGA), Joe Hamrock, who is President and CEO of NiSource, Inc. (one of the largest fully-regulated utility companies in the United States,

c The WGC 2018 Opening Reception was held at Washington DC’s landmark Union Station.

serving 4 million natural gas and electric customers), recently commented: “In the years to come, we will look back at World Gas Conference 2018 as a transformative event that joined the present and future of the industry.”

From the stunning IGU President’s Dinner, hosted on Sunday night, June 24, by David and Cheryl Carroll at the National Air and Space Museum, followed by the beautiful and fun Opening Reception at Union Station, to the excitement of the Opening Ceremony featuring the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps along with the world-renowned Harlem Globetrotters, to the dynamic closing ceremony on Friday, June 29, featuring the Washington DC Youth Orchestra and Joe Castillo, the sand artist, culminating in the handover of the IGU Presidency to Joo-Myung (Joe) Kang of the Republic of Korea, the entire WGC week turned into the global gas industry week. This was no longer just a gas conference, but truly a global gas industry event!

c The Opening Ceremony featured the world-renowned Harlem Globetrotters.

x There were 310 exhibitors including the American Gas Association which was celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Concurrent with its efforts to raise the global voice of gas, WGC 2018 welcomed record levels of policymakers from across the globe. The event attracted record numbers of members of the financial community, gas industry customers and NGOs. WGC 2018 featured the largest gas industry exhibition ever held in the USA, and the event received the highest level of sponsorships for any IGU event in its 87-year history.

From the beginning, WGC 2018 was designed to achieve the goals set out by the USA IGU bid team in 2011. WGC 2018 was developed to recognise and honour the 87-year legacy and tradition of the World Gas Conference, but at the same time, take advantage of the unique opportunity provided by having the event in a city that is known for its history of bringing together global policymakers and to provide an event that would truly represent the “Olympics” of the global gas industry.

To plan, develop and conduct a world-class event such as WGC 2018 required a world-class team – with AGA as the host, the CWC Group as the professional conference organiser, ETF as the exhibition organiser, and backed

up by the USA Presidency team, including the Gas Technology Institute. Moreover, it was held in a world-class city, in a country with tremendous interest in the natural gas industry and in a venue, the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, which provided attendees and participants with a world-class experience.

Throughout the week, over 10,000 attendees from 90 countries had the opportunity to hear from 600 speakers from 52 nations in 115 conference sessions. Attendees were able to visit the 40,000m2 exhibition hall and tour such specialised pavilions as Sustainable Energy with Natural Gas, Robotics, Gas for Transportation, Showcase America and others, all while visiting with the 310 exhibiting companies. The voice of gas was raised across the globe by the 82 media partners and the 330 media representatives in attendance, including both CNBC and Bloomberg who were broadcasting live from the WGC.

c David Carroll addressing the Closing Ceremony which featured the Washington DC Youth Orchestra.

Under the direction of IGU Public Affairs Director, Mel Ydreos, the visibility of IGU was raised dramatically during the week, with extensive social media activities, videos, interviews and more.

An exceptional programme

The conference programme was exceptional in its depth, breadth and quality of topics and speakers. The WGC team even received an award from the Pink Petro organisation (the GRIT award) for the geographic diversity (two-thirds of speakers were from outside the United States) and gender balance amongst the conference speakers.

Sixty-four keynote speakers participated in the eight keynote sessions – sessions that addressed the most pressing issues facing the global gas industry. Keynote speakers included virtually all of the major energy company CEOs from around the world, in addition to policymakers like US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (who spent virtually the entire week at WGC 2018, and even hosted a special meeting of the APEC Ministerial group); US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke; and Energy and Natural Resources Ministers from Argentina, Canada, the European Union, Hungary, Indonesia, and Korea. Keynote sessions also featured a number of leading US Members of Congress, as well as other global policymakers, customers and NGO representatives, like Environmental Defense Fund President, Fred Krupp. The four keynote luncheons were extremely well attended, including the closing session featuring Pulitzer Prize winning author Daniel Yergin and two former US Secretaries of Energy – Ernie Moniz and Spencer Abraham.

A unique aspect of the WGC was the organisation of 23 Current Debate sessions, developed by the NOC, and focused on the most timely and topical strategic, commercial and technical issues facing the global gas industry. The 139 speakers participating in the Current Debates included presidents of many energy companies, as well as global policymakers, NGO representatives, major gas industry customers and members of the financial community.

Conference sessions developed by the IGU committees, under the direction of Acting Coordination Committee Chair, Rod Rinholm, with assistance from Mel Ydreos and Terry Thorn, Senior Advisor to the IGU President, numbered 76 – over two-thirds of the entire WGC programme. They included 437 speakers throughout the week and

were of two types: Industry Insights were held in conference rooms while Technical and Innovation Centre sessions were held in a dedicated area of the exhibition. Some 1,000 abstracts had been submitted from energy industry executives interested in participating in these sessions. All of the committee sponsored sessions were extremely well attended throughout the week and received very good reviews from the attendees.

A special project of WGC 2018, the Young Professionals Programme (YPP), was designed to help develop the energy industry leaders of the future. The YPP had its own agenda, utilising many of the senior level speakers who participated in WGC 2018, and including special tours of the exhibition. Some 120 current energy industry employees, under the age of 40, participated in the YPP, and the programme received excellent reviews from all participants.

Extremely well-attended technical tours, workshops, master classes and numerous social/networking events rounded out the week-long event. Virtually all attendees provided survey responses indicating that the networking opportunities fully met their needs and interests. A very special VIP event, prior to the Conference itself, provided the opportunity for Ministers, CEOs, Ambassadors, Members of Congress and C-suite executives to participate in a discussion of the Geopolitics of the Global Gas Industry – a session moderated by Carlyle Group Founder David Rubenstein and featuring Assistant US Secretary of State John Sullivan, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth and ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods.

WGC 2018 was held in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Gas Association. AGA was one of the earliest Charter Members of IGU, and this special celebration added to the excitement surrounding the 27th WGC.

A special thanks to all delegates, speakers, exhibitors, sponsors and trade visitors, for helping make WGC 2018 the success we all hoped it would be. And, a very special debt of gratitude is owed to the entire USA Presidency/WGC team for the amazing effort that achieved the objectives of raising the Voice of gas across the globe; increasing the Visibility of IGU and providing greater Value to the IGU membership.

Jay Copan was Executive Director of WGC 2018.

Members of the USA Presidency/WGC team say farewell.