Gastech, the world’s premier natural gas conference and exhibition, will kick off today in Korea to showcase the nation’s role in the global gas industry.

More than 400 companies representing the natural gas and liquefied natural gas supply chain will attend this year’s 2014 Gastech, which will be held until Thursday at KINTEX, in Ilsan, north of Seoul.

The state-run Korea Gas Corp. is the host of the event. Up to 2,000 senior gas industry executives will attend the conference, while the number of visitors is expected to reach 15,000.

“It is the first time that Gastech was held in East Asia. We hope that the world’s largest gathering of (gas industry experts and industry participants) will put Korea at the front and center of the global energy map,’’ said Matthew Meredith, an executive vice president of U.S.-based dmg events, the organizer of Gastech, in an email interview with The Korea Herald.

According to Meredith, there are several important reasons why Korea was selected as the venue, and why KOGAS was chosen as the corporate host.

“One is that Gastech had never been held in Northeast Asia in the event’s 42-year history, although the region, including Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China, consumes two-thirds of the world’s LNG produced,” he said.

“We understood early that Asia was rapidly becoming the epicentre of the gas and LNG world, where consumption is rising rapidly ― in particular in China and India ― and where we saw the potential to take the industry’s leading suppliers and deliver them into the heart of the demand community.’’

Korea is the second-largest LNG importer after Japan, while KOGAS stands as the world’s largest corporate LNG buyer.

Korea’s global competitiveness in building LNG ships and LNG offshore facilitates is another key reason why Gastech arrived in Korea ahead of other Asian countries.

“We also understood just how monumental the growth of Korea’s shipyards was, and how many orders for LNG and gas carriers ― high-value ships ― were being won by major players such as Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering,’’ Meredith said.

Asked about the central features of the 2014 Gastech, he said the exhibitions and conferences would address the needs of the global industry through a mix of commercially focused and technology-driven streams to help ensure that Gastech remains the ultimate place for the commercial and technical gas worlds to meet. 

“Representatives including those working in utilities, engineering and procurement, shipbuilding, oilfield services, research, project finance and contracting all come together under one roof for that one week,’’ the executive said.

Some of the world’s largest oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and Total, will attend the event.

Further, executives from the world’s leading national oil companies, such as Gazprom, Sonatrach, NNPC, Petrobras, Qatar Petroleum, China National Petroleum Company, Sinopec and Pertamina, will present the global trends in the gas industry, in addition to networking with industry professionals across the world.

“Gastech 2014 Korea will bring together thousands of commercial and technical industry professionals for unrivalled networking, new business opportunities, the exchange of ideas and to showcase the latest innovations, technologies and developments across the gas value chain,” Meredith said.

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)