Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Director General of Gazprom Export, Member of the Council of the International Gas Union (IGU) made a statement at the IGU Council meeting in Beijing. The meeting took place within the IGU Autumn Session which was attended by a delegation from Gazprom.

Alexander Medvedev stated that Gazprom proposed holding the 28th World Gas Conference and World Gas Exhibition in 2021 in St. Petersburg.

Alexander Medvedev was nominated as a candidate of Russia for the IGU Presidency 2018–2021.

The relevant formal applications were sent to the IGU Secretariat.

Background

The International Gas Union is the most reputable international organization representing the interests of natural gas producing and consuming countries. IGU was established in 1931 in order to coordinate the international efforts aimed at developing technologies and infrastructure of the global gas industry. IGU comprises 81 countries as Charter Members and 40 organizations and companies as Associate Members.

Russiahas been the IGU Charter Member since 1957. The interests of Russia in IGU are represented by Gazprom. The World Gas Conference (WGC) is the supreme management body of IGU, being held triennially in parallel with the World Gas Exhibition (WGE). WGC and WGE sum up the progress of the gas industry over a triennium and define the objectives of joint efforts for its further development.

In the whole history of the International Gas Union, WGC and WGE were held in Russia only once – in Moscow in 1970.