CERAWEEK: Global energy groups urge G7 to support role of gas, LNG for energy security, climate goals

An international coalition of energy groups including the American Petroleum Institute March 7 urged the G7 to support the role of gas and LNG for energy security and in meeting climate objectives.

It also called on the G7 "to expeditiously act on policies that ensure international commitments to replace Russian natural gas are achieved,' the API said in a statement late March 7.

The coalition also includes the Asia Natural Gas and Energy Association, Energy Policy Research Foundation, Eurogas, International Association of Oil and Gas Producers, International Gas Union, LNG Allies and US Chamber of Commerce.

"The energy and financial reverberations of the war have shown that these goals cannot be achieved without fundamental progress on both energy security and climate change," the coalition said in a letter to Japanese Prime Minister and current G7 Chair Fumio Kishida.

"Responsible development of natural gas and associated infrastructure is critical to this progress, and we look forward to working with G7 ministers and heads of state to ensure that the forthcoming meetings reflect these realities," the coalition added.

The letter follows a meeting between industry leaders and representatives from G7 nations held on the sidelines of the CERAWeek by S&P Global in Houston, Texas.

The industry call for the G7 action comes ahead of the G7 Ministers' Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment in Sapporo over April 15-16 and the G7 Hiroshima Summit May 19-21 in Japan.

The letter also called on G7 leaders to advance the following priorities in its forthcoming meeting and communique:

** Working with industry to encourage public and private investment in all segments of the natural gas supply chain to ensure sufficient development and availability of non-Russian supplies, while ensuring consistency with long-term climate objectives.

** Committing to cooperate on ways to improve guidelines and practices associated with public financing of natural gas infrastructure and foster efficient and timely review of permitting of such infrastructure.

** Supporting development of gas resources including biomethane, renewable natural gas and other renewable and low carbon gaseous fuels.

G7 presidency

Japan expects the G7 ministerial meeting in April to consider ways to stabilize global oil and LNG markets, while addressing issues of energy security and decarbonization in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a top government official told S&P Global Commodity Insights Jan. 6.

Japan takes the presidency of the G7 -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US -- in 2023 amid a series of energy security challenges and the need to make progress toward carbon neutrality.

"We believe it is important to address issues of decarbonization and energy security -- two sides of the same issues -- and discuss the issues squarely at this G7 ministerial meeting," Ryo Minami, deputy commissioner for international affairs and director-general for international policy on carbon neutrality at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Agency of Natural Resources and Energy, said in an interview.

Japan intends to bring up the importance of LNG as transition energy at the G7 meeting, where it also plans to discuss the role of LNG in energy transition with such decarbonizing solutions as carbon capture and storage, as well as using gas as feedstock for producing hydrogen and ammonia, Minami said then.