The third day of the Gastech 2018 conference and exhibition got off to a strong start with a keynote address from Jean-Baptiste Dubreil, Senior Natural Gas Analyst, International Energy Agency, who spoke of the growth opportunities in the industry from the U.S., China and industry demand.

This was followed by a Global Leaders’ panel featuring CEOs and board members from Enagás, Engie, Black & Veatch and Grupo Energia Bogota on the nexus between gas and renewables which explored the growth potential for gas offered by its use as a transportation fuel and posed questions about gas as a transition or destination fuel.

The afternoon’s Global Leaders’ panel featured a discussion on the transformative impact of digital technologies on the global energy industry. MAANA founder & CEO Babur Ozman, Enagás Chief Transformation Officer Anton Martinez, BHGE President & CEO of Turbomachinery and Process Solutions Rod Christie and Petrofac’s Group Head of Strategy, Jonathan Carpenter shed light on how companies could transform using new technologies.

Other themes discussed included the new demand centres for gas, the challenges in the gas sector in Spain and beyond and a range of other issues including the burgeoning trading sector, project financing, the interplay between gas and renewable energy in power generation, project development, managing emissions and project financial risk management.

Another key theme was the growth of the North American gas and LNG industry, a topic that will be a focus for Gastech 2019, in Houston – long recognised as the energy capital of the world.

The GPEX Summit began with inspiring words from Blanca Losada Martin, formerly of Naturgy and chairwoman of Futured. She emphasised the importance of changing perceptions and attitudes, and managing mistakes. Oriol Pudjoldevall, Business Development Lead for the Energy Web Foundation, which works on blockchain solutions for energy, said current networks were controlled by one trusted conductor. In future, networks would be a completely decentralised cloud where each individual knew exactly what was happening.

A panel discussion on the age of energy digitalisation followed, with Martin Daronnat, VPP Senior Operations & Delivery Manager, E.ON, Jens Brodowski, Digital Leader Renewables, Innogy SE, Kaspar Kaarleep, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, WePower and Arij van Berkel, Research Director, Lux research.

For more information visit: www.gastechevent.com

20th September 2018

20th September 2018