The IGU’s annual Council Meeting was held on 24-25 October 2018 in Venice, Italy and hosted by the Italian Gas Association, Comitato Italiano Gas (CIG) and SNAM.

The Council meeting was preceded by meetings of the Task Force, Strategic Communications and Outreach, the Coordination Committee, Regional Coordinators and Executive Committee meetings.

The following is a summary of the key outcomes from these meetings,

• The 2018-2019 Strategic Communications and Outreach plan was presented to the Executive Committee and Council following its endorsement by the Task Force.
• The Executive Committee approved Iran to host IGRC2023, previously awarded IGRC2020.  As a result, an expedited bidding process for the selection of IGRC2020 was approved and announced at the Council meeting.   Since the meeting and following a request for Expressions of Interest to the Charter members for the hosting of IGRC2020, the following countries have expressed their intent on bidding, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Oman.  The Executive Committee will select the winning bidder early in the new year.
• The Executive Committee approved the Triennial Work Program
• The Executive Committee approved the establishment of a Code of Ethical Business Conduct for implementation in the new year.
• The Council approved the slate of the 2018-2021 IGU Regional Coordinators
• The following new Associate Members were approved by the Council:
  • Baker Hughes, a GE Company, USA
  • ISRAEL NATURAL GAS LINES Company Ltd., Israel
  • Ocean Nuclear Co., Ltd, China
  • Oman Gas Company (OGC), Oman
  • POSCO DAEWOO Corporation, Republic of Korea
  • Sewerin GmbH, Germany
  • Vitol S.A., Switzerland
  • Ocean Nuclear Co., Ltd, China
• The following slate of Premium Associate Members were approved by the Council:

• AnadarkoB
• Beijing Gas Group
•  Cheniere
•  CNPC
•  Enagas
•  Engie
•  Equinor
• ExxonMobil
• Naturgy
• IGDAS
• KOGAS
• Pertamina
• Royal Dutch Shell
• Total

• The Transition Team established to develop an implementation plan for the establishment of a permanent Secretariat held a workshop to provide a status of the project and seek feedback from the members.  The team will develop a comprehensive plan that will include the review of the IGU’s Vision and Mission, Governance, Organizational structure, Budget and Host City and will seek final approval from the Council at the fall, 2019 meeting in Indonesia.