Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar attended the opening ceremony of Liquid Gas Week, organized by the World Liquid Gas Association (WLGA) in Istanbul from October 12 to 16. Türkiye is hosting the international event for the first time this year. Speaking at the opening ceremony at the Istanbul Congress Center, Bayraktar emphasized that energy security is a fundamental national security priority.
He thanked the World Liquid Gas Association for bringing the global liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) community together in Türkiye for the first time, describing the gathering as an important opportunity to discuss the future of an industry that serves millions of households, businesses and vehicles worldwide. Over the past several years, we have experienced one crisis after another: the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, trade wars, geopolitical tensions and armed conflicts,” Bayraktar said. Recalling his recent visit to Riyadh to attend the World Petroleum Congress, the minister described the security challenges facing the global energy industry.
He noted that the airport had come under a missile attack just hours before his aircraft landed, two days earlier on Monday. However, we must acknowledge that we may be entering an era characterized by constant crises and uncertainty. As the energy sector, we must learn how to adapt to these new realities,” he said.
Bayraktar said energy security was a fundamental national security priority, stressing that providing citizens with reliable and affordable energy was becoming increasingly challenging at a time when the global economy was undergoing a major energy transformation. Overcoming these challenges, he argued, required resilient energy systems and realistic, flexible and balanced policies that took the differing needs of individual markets into account. Diversification, he added, had to remain at the heart of such policies.
Bayraktar said Türkiye’s experience clearly demonstrated the value of LPG, emphasizing that countries could no longer afford to depend on a single energy source, supplier, technology or transportation route. In global energy discussions, LPG sometimes remains in the shadow of its ‘older siblings,’ oil and natural gas. However, its contribution to energy security should never be underestimated,” he said.
According to the minister, LPG offers millions of consumers an important alternative, particularly during periods of supply disruption, thanks to its flexibility, portability and accessibility. He explained that LPG had played a vital role in Türkiye’s energy market for decades, ranging from providing modern cooking solutions to households to transforming the country's transportation sector through autogas. Bayraktar said Türkiye now had one of the largest and most developed LPG markets in the world, highlighting the country's position in European and global consumption.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
