World LP Gas Association

Leading the way

With a mission to promote its use worldwide in order to help support a cleaner, healthier and more prosperous world, the World LP Gas Association (WLPGA) is the authoritative global voice of LP Gas.

As an organisation the WLPGA has four key aims and they are to demonstrate the benefits of LP Gas, support the development of existing and potential markets, promote compliance with standards and safe practices and identify innovation whilst transferring knowledge.

LP Gas is a derivative of two energy industries, those being natural gas processing and crude oil refining. When natural gas is taken from the earth it is made up of a mixture of gases and liquids, 90 per cent of which is methane. Of the remaining ten per cent, half is propane and the other is made up of butane and ethane.

Before natural gas is transported or used the LP Gases are separated, some coming from gas liquids while a percentage of the rest will be trapped in crude oil. Approximately 60 per cent of the LP Gas produced comes from gas processing. In crude oil refining roughly three per cent of a typical barrel is refined into LP Gas, although it has been found that as much as 40 per cent could in fact be converted. In both of its forms LP Gas production is a natural derivative, meaning its production is assured, as the primary motive for gas processors and refiners is to produce fuels that, at first, create LP Gas. Although it is tied to the production of natural gas and crude oil, LP Gas has its own distinct marketing advantages as well as the ability to perform nearly every fuel function of the primary fuels from which it is derived.

In order to promote the use of LP Gas the WLPGA undertakes a number of different activities. Not only does it promote compliance with health, safety and environment standards it also works to create the ideal environment to develop and sustain LP Gas worldwide through its market development and support work. Core to all of its operations is the process of informing and raising awareness of LP Gas and the LP Gas industry at an international level. The association works to facilitate discussions and partnerships with key global agencies, policy makers, international business associates and non-governmental organisations on the many issues facing society and the energy sector. This international outreach and advocacy work allows WLPGA to act as a global umbrella organisation on behalf of all the leading regional and national LP Gas Associations.

The WLPGA runs two major global networks: the Global Autogas Industry Network (GAIN) and the Global Technology Network (GLOTEC). GAIN is driven by senior executives from around the world who meet several times a year to stimulate the automotive use of LP Gas and exchange key information regarding market trends and innovations. GLOTEC meanwhile has been co-ordinating projects and delivering products to its members for over ten years and in this way it supports industry growth through the sharing of information in new technologies and their uses.

At present billions of people use LP Gas, depending on it for thousands of different applications. Until now LP Gas has played a valuable role in meeting the world’s energy needs and in the years to come it has the opportunity to increase this role. Compared to most other traditional forms of energy, LP Gas releases fewer harmful pollutants when used as a domestic and automotive fuel source and WLPGA believes that the portable nature of bottled LP Gas and its clean burning characteristics present an immediate and timely solution to the issue of making modern forms of energy available to those that do not currently have access to it.

It is another belief of WLPGA that by switching to LP Gas industries could make significant progress towards meeting their Kyoto greenhouse gas reduction targets. The reasoning behind this comes from the fact that LP Gas produces lower greenhouse emissions compared to conventional energy supplies in every application in which it is used.

It is messages like this that the WLPGA will be looking to broadcast further at the upcoming World LP Gas Forum in Doha, Qatar. Now in its 24th year the forum draws key agencies, policy makers and industry leaders to explore the future of the LP Gas sector, discusses the growth potential of the industry and forges new business relationships.

In the last decade LP Gas has played an increasingly valuable role in rapidly expanding markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China where it has been used to provide mass access to clean energy. As word continues to spread about its ability to provide increased access to modern energy, improve air quality and combat global climate change, the role of LP Gas in the worldwide energy mix will only enhance further.

World LP Gas Association (WLPGA)
Services: Promotion of LP Gas use