Gas markets have made a U-turn during the past five years so that traditional assumptions about the future shape of global gas markets need to be challenged: despite its qualities as a low carbon fuel, natural gas gets squeezed between coal and renewables in Europe, North America has emerged as a large potential LNG exporter, and regional gas prices diverged strongly before converging again in 2015.

KAPSARC held its first workshop on gas markets on March 19, 2015 in The Hague. This workshop explored whether gas had a guaranteed long-term role in the energy mix, and raised questions about Asia as the source of incremental demand. It also analyzed where new LNG supplies beyond 2020 would come from, and whether they would be based on new and different contractual and pricing mechanisms.

Workshop participants included delegates from the Clingendael Institute Energy Program (CIEP), Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ), International Energy Agency (IEA), the Energy Information Administration (EIA), International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), and the World Bank, as well as other representatives from think tanks, universities and the energy industry.