South Korea’s largest gas industry conference to discuss the future of the industry was held in Daegu last week, with around 200 theses presented and exhibitions organized by public and private gas-related firms.

The three-day symposium, called 2019 APGC & KIGAS Spring Conference, took place from Wednesday at Daegu Exhibition and Convention Center, sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Alongside the conference, an exhibition was held by related companies, including the Korea Gas Corporation, the Korea Gas Safety Corporation and FLIR System Korea.

In a keynote speech on Wednesday, Park Jin-ho, director of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, gave a presentation with a title of “Gas industry as a bridgehead in hydrogen society.” Following the address, Park Hee-joon, CEO of Energy Innovation Partners, talked about the trend in the North America’s natural gas market and the consequences for the Korean energy market.

Hong Sung-ho, chairman of the Korean Institute of Gas, said in an opening speech, “The conference aims to develop technologies and improve global competitiveness of the nation‘s gas industry. This will also serve as a foundation for developing studies related to gas and hydrogen.”

Korea Gas Corp. Vice President Lim Jong-kook said in a congratulatory message, “Amid a paradigm shift in the energy industry, the gas industry needs to make efforts to make use of new opportunities of low carbon and eco-friendliness.” 

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)