IEA, IEF and OPEC host First Joint Symposium on Gas and Coal Market Outlooks

At the request of the Group of 20 (G-20), a first symposium was held today at the IEA in Paris to compare current outlooks for gas and coal markets and to examine how such markets are regulated.

The G-20 Cannes Summit Leaders’ Declaration in November 2011 requested "further work on gas and coal market transparency and asked the IEA, IEF and OPEC to provide recommendations in this field." In addition the declaration called for "annual symposiums and communiqués on short-, medium- and long-term outlooks and forecasts for gas and coal."

The symposium was convened by the IEA, the IEF and OPEC. More than 90 speakers, participants and national representatives attended from the energy industries, from business, from governments and from the academic world. The meeting was held under the Chatham House Rule.

The first session discussed recent developments in gas markets including the impact of increased production of non-conventional gas, the evolving role of LNG in world markets as well as improvements in access to market data, including the extension of the Joint Organisations Data Initiative to gas.

The second session discussed current and future drivers of coal demand, the impact of energy and environmental policy and the effects of competition in power generation on the evolution of coal demand. The session also discussed the sources and quality of coal market data and ways in which it might be improved.

The final session looked at gas and coal markets at both the national and international levels, how they compare with other commodity markets and how proposed financial regulation in energy derivative markets might affect them.

The three secretariats will provide their member governments with a full summary of the symposium proceedings and will report to the G-20 in due course.