2018's Olympics of Gas

PUF's Steve Mitnick: Tell me about your travels on behalf of the World Gas Conference, and how you are working to further the gas industry here and abroad.

Dave McCurdy: The American Gas Association is the U.S. charter member of the International Gas Union (IGU). The IGU represents the gas industries of 91 countries and is the owner of the World Gas Conference (WGC). We've been involved since the founding of the IGU, 86 years ago. While AGA represents utilities delivering natural gas to end use customers, at IGU we represent the entire gas value chain. AGA celebrates its centennial in 2018.

As the charter member, we hold the vote for the U.S. in the International Gas Union activities. I am a member of the executive committee. Our IGU Council, the organization's governing body, met recently in Tokyo.

The Tokyo meeting was extremely important. Every three years the membership elects the IGU second vice president. The winning country/individual will eventually become the IGU president for a period of three years. In addition to serving as president for a three-year term, that individual/country will host the WGC.

GTI president David Carroll was our U.S. candidate in the elections held in 2011 in Dubrovnik, Croatia where we won the IGU presidency in an Olympic-style selection process. These elections are extremely competitive. In our case, we were bidding against Qatar, Brazil and South Korea. David has been serving as IGU president since June 2015 and I am serving as the chair of our National Organizing Committee for the 2018 World Gas Conference.

The WGC moves around the globe every three years. The first one I attended was in 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 2015 WGC was in Paris. And the 2018 WGC will be in Washington D.C. in June of 2018. The 2021 WGC will be held in South Korea, as that nation won the IGU election in 2014.

The election in Tokyo was very dynamic. The candidates were Canada, a combined team comprised of Egypt and Oman — the first time ever for a combined team — and the third candidate was China. Just as we did in 2011, all candidates had extensive campaigns for over a year, sometimes longer than that. China prevailed at the meeting in Tokyo and Madam Li Yalan, CEO of the Beijing Gas Group, will become the first female IGU president in June 2021, with Beijing hosting the WGC in 2024.

PUF's Steve Mitnick: Why do you think you won the election in 2011? And what is the significance of the win?

Dave McCurdy: I believe that we won the election because of the breadth of natural gas activities in North America and because of our world class industry that delivers and uses natural gas. We are driving innovation from production all the way through to the burner tip. Our two and half million miles of natural gas pipelines are the envy of the world. Natural gas has transformed our economy and fundamentally changed our emissions profile. It is the foundation fuel for the United States, and many countries are looking to follow our example.

We have a unique opportunity to demonstrate to the world the diversity of our energy portfolio. Natural gas is America's advantage.

PUF's Steve Mitnick: You have other activities internationally. You recently went to Mexico?

Dave McCurdy: I was in Mexico City earlier in the year, with Mexican government officials and organizations, to understand better the phenomenal changes that are ongoing in Mexico. In our more recent trip to Mexico, we were part of the first ever Natural Gas Trilateral Summit - a joint meeting of the American Gas Association, the Canadian Gas Association and the Mexican Gas Association. This meeting was designed to look at the commonality of energy issues among our three nations.

In most of the world, and in the International Gas Union, very few of the charter members are like us at AGA, an association representing private companies throughout the country. Most all the other memberships are dominated by nation-state oil and gas companies. For the Russians it's Gazprom; in Saudi Arabia it's Saudi Aramco; in Qatar it is Qatargas; in South Korea it is KOGAS.

It is unilaterally dominated and therefore run differently. We bring a unique perspective. We have experience building consensus by taking input from members. We believe the IGU can learn from this example. It has started to do that more effectively.

PUF's Steve Mitnick: The World Gas Conference hasn't been in the U.S. for a long time. What are your goals for AGA and your member companies?

Dave McCurdy: The World Gas Conference, from June 25 to June 29, will be held in the U.S. for the first time since 1988. It probably won't be held here again for a long time. It's a unique opportunity.

President Reagan spoke at the conference in 1988 about the future of natural gas. In 1988, we were dealing with energy shortages, dependence and talking about the need to import natural gas.

In 2018, we will be one of the largest global exporters of natural gas. We are now the largest producer of natural gas in the world and we are the largest consumer of natural gas. It's a completely different position.

The WGC will be the largest natural gas event in the world. We expect upwards of twelve thousand attendees. There will be over a hundred countries participating. It will be the largest event ever for the IGU. We are honored to be the host of this global event.

It has an extensive conference program, and will be the largest natural gas exhibition ever held in the U.S. Most of these big energy events are in Houston. We chose to have it in Washington, D.C. We wanted to take advantage of the venue, creating an opportunity for policy makers to be engaged. We will host a policy conversation on a global scale.

We'll have CEOs, energy ministers, U.S. government officials, NGOs and others participating in what, we think, will be a very comprehensive and lively discussion of critical issues. It's a technical conference as well. There have been over a thousand technical abstracts submitted for review. We select from all of those to determine who will present at different sessions.

We'll have over five hundred speakers on a range of strategic, commercial and technical issues. Seventy percent of our keynote speakers will be from outside North America. Forty-five keynote speakers have already confirmed. Our host partners are ExxonMobil and Chevron. Cheniere and Tellurian are our principal sponsors and there are many other sponsors from across the globe.

We have CEOs from across our industry. That includes a number of AGA leaders, like Kimberly Harris, CEO of Puget Sound, who is our AGA Chair for 2018. She will be one of our keynote speakers.

AGA members are already stepping up in a big way by providing speakers and conference delegates. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for all segments of the global gas industry to join with their colleagues from across the globe in addressing critical issues, many of which are being faced in dozens of different countries.

PUF's Steve Mitnick: How did the U.S. get to that position, and why is it important?

Dave McCurdy: We've been able to achieve so much because of the shale revolution. We have increased our economic performance, enhanced our energy security and decreased our emissions profile. Our abundance of natural gas has certainly affected our role on the international stage. With natural gas, you can accomplish all of these goals at the same time.

PUF's Steve Mitnick: We have a wide readership from several different industries. Why should all those folks want to be there or send someone to this conference?

Dave McCurdy: The exchange of information and valuable contacts will be incredible. We have policy makers from inside and outside the U.S. They're going to play an important role at the conference. We already have thirty-seven members of Congress and U.S. Senators serving as honorary members of our national organizing committee.

We've done extensive outreach to the diplomatic corps, the Departments of Energy, State, Commerce, Interior, Transportation, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. We are working very closely with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). We have the financial community engaged, as well as major gas industry customers and NGOs. If you are involved with any sector of the gas industry, this is the one single event that you need to be at — this is literally, the "Olympics" of the gas industry.

PUF's Steve Mitnick: It's clear that natural gas utilities will be well represented. Are there many representatives from other industry sectors?

Dave McCurdy: We have CEOs speaking from the steel industry, the fertilizer industry, the chemicals industry and the plastics industry.

The chemical industry today is making hundreds of billions of dollars of investments in crackers and ethylene facilities that use natural gas byproducts to produce most everything that we use in society.

The steel manufacturing industry relies on natural gas. The biggest proponents that I see around the world of American natural gas are those users. The chemical folks, steel folks and fertilizer folks see the benefits of a low cost, abundant, domestic, clean resource that no other country really has the way we do. We have high demand, but also a phenomenal supply.

PUF's Steve Mitnick: Who are the other trade associations who will take part in the World Gas Conference?

Dave McCurdy: EEI, API, INGAA, the Natural Gas Supply Association, and the Natural Gas Council, are all involved. It's not just an AGA event. This is a real opportunity for the entire energy sector.

Lead image © Can Stock Photo / Sanman