Gaseous Fuels Forum 2026: LPG in times of change

The future of LPG and the potential of using this raw material in the energy transition are important issues for the economy and energy security. The theme of the Forum is a reflection of the real challenges facing the liquefied gas sector. This year, as part of the Gaseous Fuels Forum, conclusions from 3 reports were presented: POGP Annual Report 2025, the report of the WiseEuropa Institute entitled LPG industry: Role and application in the Polish economy and the report of the Polish Institute of International Studies entitled (Non) safe waters: The Baltic Sea region facing a redefinition of security in Europe.

In 2026, the event was held under the honorary patronage Minister of Energy, President of the Office of Technical Supervision and Director of Transport Technical Supervision. The Forum was also sponsored World Liquid Gas Association and Liquid Gas Europe. The sponsors of the conference were Gaspol, Argus Media, Latvian propane gas, Orlen Fuel and Danske Gas. Among the participants were not only business representatives, but also special guests representing key state institutions and industry organizations, which emphasized the importance of the topics discussed for security and economic development.

The guests of the Forum were welcomed jointly by the President of the Polish Liquid Gas Association Ewa Gawrys-Osinska and President of Information Market Robert Bukowski, at the same time opening session 1 of the event: The LPG market in an era of assertive trade policy. In the introductory speech to the topic Piotr Arak, VeloBank's chief economist and Atlantic Council expert, outlined the symptoms of the “end of history” of the world's free trade era. The expert drew attention to the progressive change in the world economic order — a shift away from the idea of free trade in favor of protectionism, which is especially vividly seen in the US policy towards organizations such as the WTO. The speaker emphasized the evolution of economic concepts, pointing out that tariffs have ceased to be just a protective shield, but have become an active mechanism of pressure and a weapon in international relations. In the context of current policy, Arak outlined a “map of uncertainty,” noting, among other things, the role of exchange rates: the US's drive to weaken the dollar to support exports, and the reactions of China manipulating the yuan in response to tariff barriers. Despite the difficult environment and the stagnation of the German economy, which has continued uninterruptedly since 2019, Poland still appears as a country maintaining growth prospects, although requiring vigilance in the face of global reshuffling.

James Rockall, Managing Director of the World Liquid Gas Association (WLGA), focused on LPG's role as a reliable fuel in an increasingly volatile world. In his speech, he focused on the resilience of the sector in the face of global change, pointing to the unique characteristics of LPG that make this fuel an extremely effective tool in times of uncertainty. Rockall stressed that the key advantage of LPG is its great adaptability — this fuel guarantees independence from centralized transmission networks and offers exceptional ease of reaching customers, even in the most demanding locations. In the analysis of the current situation, the speaker referred to the changes resulting from US policy and the growing role of the US in the global energy market. He noted that while global uncertainty brings many challenges, the industry can turn them into successes. However, a proactive attitude is a prerequisite: the LPG sector must be visible and heard in key energy debates so as not to allow itself to be marginalised. In conclusion, Rockall invited all participants to Liquid Gas Week, which will be held in mid-October in Istanbul under the theme LPG: Resilience in a Changing World.

The statement of the head of the WLGA supplemented Waldemar Jaszczyk, senior editor of Argus Media, who gave a detailed analysis of the state of the European LPG market in the shadow of the conflict in the Middle East. The speaker focused on the strategic role of the Strait of Hormuz, pointing out that its blockade hits China and India the hardest, but also ricocheted Europe. He paid particular attention to the butane market, which, unlike propane, is much harder to replenish with increased exports from the US, making it more susceptible to turbulence. During the presentation, the expert presented the scale of the destruction of infrastructure in the Middle East, which will drastically hinder the return to normal functioning of the market even after the conflict is extinguished. At the same time, Jaszczyk outlined an optimistic scenario: assuming that the blockade of Hormuz would end on May 1, the world market could regain equilibrium only at the end of 2026. The expert also explained why European prices react so sharply to this conflict — the reason is primarily the insufficient local production in Europe, which forces Poland to rely on imports from unstable directions. The analysis also covered the specific price phenomena accompanying the war and drastic jumps in premiums. Jaszczyk noted that the pervasive uncertainty caused the industry to go into “ad hoc mode”, which further exacerbates the volatility of quotations and makes it difficult to plan stable deliveries in the long term.

Another speaker, Can Toydemir, Chief Operating Officer of Milangaz, presented the outlook for the Turkish market. The speaker pointed to numerous similarities between the Turkish and Polish markets, including, above all, a strong dependence on foreign supplies — Turkey imports as much as 75% of LPG demand, of which almost half (47%) comes from Algeria. Toydemir described in detail the impressive logistics base of the country, which has 21 terminals located on three seas. Two facilities — Dortyol and Izmit — are of crucial importance for domestic supply, through which as much as 3/4 of the total volume of fuel passes. However, the expert pointed to legislative challenges: Turkey's restrictive rules on mandatory inventories significantly limit the operational flexibility of energy companies. In his historical analysis of the market, Can Toydemir depicted the profound sectoral transformation that has taken place in Turkey since 2000. At that time, there was a drastic decrease in the cylinder segment (by 73%) and the tank segment (by 89%), with a spectacular increase in the autogas sector by 300 percent. The speaker discussed the specific legal regulations for the functioning of these markets, and the presentation ended with a compilation of guidelines for “good autogas trade”, which emphasized the importance of ethics and business responsibility in building a professional market.

Session 1 ended with a presentation Emmanuel Trivina, Managing Director of DCC Energy for Continental Europe. The expert discussed in detail the changing expectations of consumers in today's economic realities, pointing out the need to adapt the offer to the new needs of consumers in Europe. Trivin also stressed that in order to build the credibility and strong brand of the entire industry, it is necessary to take concrete courses of action that will allow it to become more recognizable in the public debate. As critically important tasks, he mentioned the active participation of the sector in decarbonization processes and the intensive development of BioLPG. An important point of the speech was the clarification of the rules of the upcoming transaction for the acquisition of UGI's shares in Central Europe, which is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks. Trivin's speech shed new light on the strategic aspects of the group's expansion in the region.

Ewa Gawryś-Osińska opened Session 2 entitled Polish turn towards the Baltic with her presentation on the conclusions from the POGP Annual Report for 2025. In her speech, she analysed in detail the changes that have taken place in the domestic market in recent months. The speaker drew attention to the sharp, almost 38% decrease in the export of liquefied gas from Poland, while maintaining a stable level of domestic consumption. A noticeable and positive trend, recorded continuously since 2021, is the systematic increase in the demand for gas for agricultural and industrial purposes, which testifies to the progressive diversification of LPG applications in the Polish economy. In the context of transport, Ewa Gawryś-Osińska compared Polish statistics with European data, emphasizing the colossal importance of autogas in our country. The number of vehicles powered by LPG is as much as 30 times higher in Poland than the number of electric cars (EVs). The basis for this advantage remains price competitiveness with respect to conventional fuels, although, as the President pointed out, the current pricing policy at service stations (CPN package) periodically distorts this relationship. An important point of the presentation was the discussion of profound changes in import directions. In the face of the tightening of sanctions on LPG from the Russian direction, the Polish market made a historic turn towards maritime and western supplies, which was a direct reference to the title of the session and confirmed the strategic importance of port infrastructure in the Baltic for the country's energy security.

In view of the unprecedented turn towards supplying the Polish market by sea, via the Baltic terminals, Tymon Pastucha, an analyst at the Polish Institute of International Studies, presented the conclusions of the PISM report entitled (Non) safe waters: The Baltic Sea region facing a redefinition of security in Europe. His speech focused on the new role of the Baltic in Poland's energy security architecture. The expert pointed out that although our country is moving away from traditional supply directions, this may give rise to completely new types of vulnerability and change the nature of existing supply dependencies. The speaker presented a broad panorama of energy changes in the region, discussing, among others, intensive investments in offshore wind farms and plans for the expansion of nuclear power. However, these key infrastructure projects require special protection. In this context, Pastucha outlined the dangers associated with the so-called shadow fleet operating in the Baltic. He noted that the presence of units of unclear status increases the likelihood of intentional or accidental damage to the transmission and energy infrastructure located at the bottom of the water. The speech concluded with an optimistic conclusion on regional cooperation. The analyst stressed the high awareness of the Baltic states in the face of hybrid threats, which results in a clear increase in military activity and coordination of defense activities that will guarantee the energy security of the entire region in the coming years.

He referred directly to the issue of fuel supply to the Baltic Ivan Buian, Commercial Director of Latvijas Propana Gaze. The speaker presented insightful regional statistics for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, comparing them with data from the Polish market. The key point of the presentation was the analysis of the regional port infrastructure, in which the port of Riga — operated by the speaker's company — was indicated as an important complement to the potential of Polish maritime terminals. Buian discussed in detail the directions of imports carried out by the Baltic countries, pointing to strategic deliveries for his company from the US terminal Marcus Hook. The conference participants were able to get acquainted with the logistics solutions used in the Riga terminal, where, in addition to the traditional tanks with a capacity of 2 thousand tons, the warehouse function is performed by a fleet of about 300 railway cars, capable of holding an additional 10 thousand tons of gas. The presentation also covered the technical aspects of the terminal's handling capacity and the company's own sales structure in geographical terms. The maximum capacity of the terminal in Riga is about 400 thousand tons per year, about 35% of the capacity of the largest terminal in the region in Gdansk, which makes it one of the most important centers of trade in American liquefied gas in the Baltic.

As part of the summary of the 2nd session Szymon Araszkiewicz and Jakub Bogucki, Information Market experts, discussed the conditions of fuel supply by sea in times of geopolitical uncertainty. Imports in Poland meet about 1/4 of the national consumption of gasoline, 1/3 of diesel oil and about 80% of LPG. As a result, the continuity of supplies by sea becomes important, and many factors - including the patency of maritime routes such as the Strait of Hormuz - are beyond the control of importers or operators of national infrastructure. Increasing energy security requires significant investments in infrastructure, and these investments should be coordinated at political level. Even unblocking the Persian Gulf will not put an end to the uncertainty, as the armed conflict has caused significant damage to infrastructure. As a result, the role of the United States as the largest LPG exporter in the world has strengthened. Speakers stressed that the fuel and LPG market today operates in conditions of multidimensional uncertainty, including the weaknesses of the European refining sector. The role of China and India in the global oil and LPG market, as well as issues of supply prospects in the face of the growing dominance of exports from the United States, were also important elements of the speech.

The third session was entitled “Public policies and the role of liquefied gas” and was opened by an on-line link in which he spoke Rob Donaldson, vice president of Targa Resources. Targa is one of the largest producers and exporters of LPG in the world, exporting approximately 1.5 million tons of LPG per month from Texas. The speaker assured that the predictability of production in the USA allows to effectively meet the growing foreign demand in the long term. He also addressed the current technical problems that affected the company's infrastructure in March. The recent incident temporarily reduced the capacity of the Galena Park terminal, which handles nearly a quarter of all U.S. LPG exports, to about 70 percent. This coincided with the outbreak of conflict in the Persian Gulf, which caused a short-term sharp tightening of supply, temporarily limiting American export opportunities. However, Donaldson stressed the strategic role of the Permian Basin as the foundation for the stable growth of US LPG exports to Europe - over the past 5 years, production growth from Targa Resources assets has been 16% per year, and in the next five years it is forecast at about 7% per year. During the same period, domestic demand for LPG in the United States will remain at a stable level, which implies an increasing availability of the raw material for export.

The conference culminated with a debate and discussion of the conclusions of the latest report on the impact of the LPG industry on the Polish economy, and was inaugurated by a speech Krzysztof Stork, an analyst from the WiseEuropa Institute, who presented the nature of the liquefied gas industry in Poland, showing its importance through the prism of less discussed and fundamental macroeconomic parameters. The expert pointed primarily to the scale of employment, estimating that nearly 300 thousand people work in the sectors related to this fuel. The role of the industry as a reliable tax payer, an important source of revenue for the state budget, was also emphasized. For more information, please refer to the report. LPG industry: Role and importance in the Polish economy a summary of which is included in the POGP Annual Report for 2025.

Such a broad market characterization provided a substantive foundation for further debate, proving that the LPG industry is one of the key pillars of the national economy. the broad market characterization provided a substantive foundation for the debate moderated by Bartosz Kwiatkowski, Director General of POGP. They took part in the discussion Ewa Abramiuk-Lété from Liquid Gas Europe, Adrian Sinkowski representing the Polish Chamber of Liquid Gas, Marcin Witaszek from the Polish Association of Automotive Industry, Przemysław Bryksa from the Customs and Tax Advisory Office Rutkowski & Partners, Robert Jeszke from the National Centre for Balancing and Emissions Management and Janusz Starościk, President of the Association of Manufacturers and Importers of Heating Equipment.

The panel debate touched on the most pressing regulatory and market challenges, and the starting point was the CPN package, which, according to the panelists, was treated by legislators in a nutshell. Adrian Sinkowski noted that the express legislative process of just 26 hours made it impossible to take into account the demands of the industry, and the official position of the government appeared long after the legislation came into force. At the same time, he expressed concern about the current price situation, which brings the cost of LPG closer to the price of gasoline, which according to Bartosz Kwiatkowski can drastically reduce interest in new installations and provoke the phenomenon of customers refraining from installing autogas plants. As a result, contrary to the intentions of the authors of the package, it will harm the Polish industry - because domestic manufacturers dominate the installation market.

The transport thread continued Marcin Witaszek, referring to the exclusion of gaseous fuels from the Clean Transport Zones in Poland — a solution successfully used in Italy — and pointing out that it is a mistake to not have a reliable verification of the emissivity of cars, based only on their age or Euro standards. The next part of the discussion was devoted to the heating sector, where Janusz Starościk He pointed out that it was gas that contributed most to the success of the Clean Air programme. When asked about the reason for excluding gas boilers from subsidies in 2025, Starościk replied directly that this decision has no substantive justification, but is due to the ideological approach of financing institutions such as the European Investment Bank. Ewa Abramiuk-Lété, referring in the discussion to the issue of BioLPG, identified renewable liquefied gas as a key element of the forthcoming revisions of the RED III and RED IV Directives. Liquid Gas Europe estimates the current production of this fuel at 600,000 tonnes per year, but the key challenge remains to shift it from refinery self-consumption to open sale, which would allow for expansive biofuel deployment scenarios. On the other hand, talking about the area of emission regulation Robert Jeszke explained the intricacies of the ETS2 system, which, covering the transport and heating sectors, could generate real fuel price increases of 50 cents per litre of diesel and around 35 cents per litre of LPG. The expert stressed that although work is underway on derogations for Poland, it is not possible to exit the ETS system, which is why effective use of the Social Climate Fund may become crucial. Poland is expected to become the largest beneficiary of this mechanism, which should significantly support the national energy transition and reduce the social costs of the introduced emission taxes. The legislative thread was supplemented Przemysław Bryksa, which discussed the draft reform of the intervention stock system in the context of LPG. The expert noted that although many countries decide to release stocks in crisis situations, in Poland this system requires a thorough overhaul and greater flexibility. He pointed to the pending draft laws, which assume the possibility of fulfilling the inventory obligation by entrepreneurs only in the form of a backup fee, which would solve the problem of lack of sufficient storage capacity for LPG. Bryksa questioned the rigid framework of the current rules, questioning the legitimacy of requiring stocks to be kept in petrol instead of diesel, which would be a more practical solution. He also noted that the activities of the industry are bringing results, as the Ministry of Energy plans changes in the system, including maintaining physical reserves of LPG for municipal purposes. He stressed that the implementation of these intentions requires urgent public debate, especially in the face of the aforementioned deficits in the country's storage infrastructure.

In the second round of questions Adrian Sinkowski pointed out the untapped potential of cooperation with local governments, which the industry today does not fully exploit, which requires closer relations. On the topic of heating Janusz Starościk was critical of forced electrification, pointing out that it takes place at the expense of liquefied gas and leads to a lack of common sense diversification of the energy mix. The panelists unanimously called for a more active fight for the interests of the sector in the EU arena, where LPG is stubbornly overlooked in strategic energy policy plans. At the end Przemysław Bryksa he made an accurate diagnosis, suggesting that the lack of personal experience of the Polish political class with autogas can be a real barrier in understanding the specifics and importance of this sector for the economy. He noted that in the current Polish Energy Policy the concept appears only once and similarly, in the National Energy and Climate Plan, LPG is mentioned only in the context of logistics infrastructure. Ewa Abramiuk-Lété She added that in many Western European countries, BioLPG has appeared in strategic documents, especially for the decarbonisation of heating in areas that are difficult to electrify. This is the case, for example, in Italy, Spain and Ireland.

Ending the Debate Robert Jeszke pointed to a downward forecast of the use of LPG in transport. In his opinion, the role of liquefied gas in Poland's energy mix will remain important for a long time in heating, as a transitional fuel in the energy transition, especially in areas where electrification will be technically difficult or economically unprofitable.

The conclusions of the panel closed the 3rd edition of the Gaseous Fuels Forum. The event once again allowed for an insightful analysis of the challenges affecting the industry both at national level and in the broad context of EU regulations and market conditions.

Interviews with participants of the Gaseous Fuels Forum can be found on the YouTube channel of the Polish Liquid Gas Association.