Respected Mr. An Fengquan, Senior Advisor to IEA, Mr. Keisuke Sadamori, IGU Coordination Committee Chair Yang Lei, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon!

It’s a great pleasure and honor to attend this launch event of IEA report Gas 2022: Analysis and Outlook to 2025, co-hosted by IEA, the IGU Presidency, and the Institute of Energy of Peking University (IEPKU), providing us with an opportunity to jointly discuss the development of global natural gas industry.

We appreciate the great work that the IEA has been doing for many years, highlighting the benefits of natural gas in global energy sector and maintaining regular releases of gas market report providing a view toward an outlook on global gas market trends and its deep analysis of natural gas supply, trade, infrastructure investment and demand growth, providing valuable information to be considered by market participants, government agencies, energy and trading companies, research institutes and relevant organisations.

The report released today reviewed recent developments in major regional gas markets during the first half of 2022 and provides medium-term forecast of global gas markets to 2025 involving supply, demand and trade, and in particular, related supporting policies and evolvement of low carbon gases such as bio-methane, hydrogen, etc. and adaptability of existing natural gas infrastructure to future low carbon environment. The report offers useful perspectives and a reference point on the international gas market.

Since Paris Agreement was signed, many countries made active efforts to cope with global climate change and formulated low carbon energy transition plans to fulfil their Nationally Determined Contributions under the agreement. In recent years, against the background of energy transition, extreme weather, surging demand and Russia-Ukraine conflict, global energy prices rose sharply. Insufficient investment and cyclical capacity shortage of the gas industry led to tight supply and unprecedented prices, with vast volatility in the market.

IGU has been consistent in its position on climate change and on the key role that gas will play in a sustainable energy future, consistent with Paris Agreement. I will summarize it with the following three key points.

The first point is that universal access to secure and affordable energy and reaching climate change targets are equally important.

The second point is that natural gas due to its flexibility and progressive decarbonisation potential advantages plays critical role in tackling energy and climate change challenges.

The third point stresses the complementary development of renewable energy and natural gas to tackle climate change and energy supply issues. Practice has proven (definitely here in China and in many other major markets) that the development of renewable energy needs the indispensable support from natural gas.

IGU views natural gas as the most practical tool and a “major force” and “key player” to realize global energy security and low carbon development. It is a consensus in the energy industry that global demand for energy will continue to grow for decades and natural gas will still be a critical part of the global energy mix.

Currently, China, as the third largest natural gas consumer and largest natural gas and LNG importer in the world, attracts high attention from global investors and suppliers. Natural gas is a versatile and abundant fuel for an orderly energy transition; an orderly phase-out of high carbon fuels, and it serves as an enabler for large-scale integration of renewable energies. It is set to play a key role on China’s path toward carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and it is undergoing rapid development in China.

IGU, representing 90% of the global gas market, and we are committed to enhancing and promoting the development and utilisation of low-, zero- and negative- carbon gases, including decarbonised and renewable natural gas and hydrogen. As IGU presidency for the 2022-2025 triennium, China identified the theme of our Triennial Work Plan as “Maximizing Gas Benefits”, looking to strengthen international cooperation in the energy sector and give full play to gas in energy transition.

Now let’s jointly review and look into the future of global gas market development with the release of IEA report. Thank you!