Global industry event goes virtual

The World LPG Association (WLPGA) launched e-LPG Week to unite the global LPG industry online this year, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

E-LPG Week will be the only global LPG industry event in 2020. Photo: AF-studio/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images

The launch of e-LPG Week follows WLPGA’s decision to postpone LPG Week 2020, including the 33rd World LPG Forum, until 2021 due to concerns about accessibility and the well-being of delegates, exhibitors, sponsors and visitors during the pandemic, says WLPGA. LPG Week 2020 was originally scheduled for Nov. 2-6 in Dubai. Dubai will remain the host city for LPG Week 2021, with dates and venue to be announced.

E-LPG Week will still take place Nov. 2-6 and is the only global LPG industry event in 2020, notes the WLPGA. The virtual forum provides attendees the flexibility to participate from anywhere in the world at any time.

The program for e-LPG Week includes content from industry leaders and global influencers, a virtual exhibition, and opportunities for networking with existing and new business contacts.

Many of the same events scheduled for LPG Week 2020 will still take place during e-LPG Week. Autogas Day, for example, will consist of three online sessions that will focus on developing markets. The Global Technology Conference – during which finalists present papers about innovative technological ideas that can create new opportunities for LPG – will also take place via three sessions.

Other virtual events include the LPG for Development Summit, exploring the role LPG plays in energy access and development; the World LPG Challenge ’20 for startups outside the LPG industry with LPG solutions; the LPG Cybersecurity Workshop; and the Global LPG Price Drivers Workshop.

This year’s keynote speaker is Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Under his leadership, the IEA brought on emerging economies – such as Brazil, China and India – to increase its share of global energy demand from 38 percent to 75 percent; broadened its security mandate to natural gas and electricity as well as oil; and became a global hub for clean energy and energy efficiency.

Prior to his nomination to executive director, Birol spent more than 20 years at the IEA, becoming the chief economist responsible for the World Energy Outlook publication.

He chairs the World Economic Forum’s Energy Advisory Board and serves on the U.N. secretary-general’s advisory board on Sustainable Energy for All. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Japanese emperor’s Order of the Rising Sun, the Order of the Polar Star from the king of Sweden, and the highest presidential decorations from Austria, Germany and Italy.

Before the IEA, Birol worked at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna.