Pursuant to requirements of the IGU Articles of Association (Article 11.1), “the Executive Committee shall appoint the IGU Committees and define their fields of work in such a way that, taken together, they cover all the current scope of work of the IGU.”
At its session conducted in Kuala Lumpur in September 2002, the IGU adopted the structure of governing bodies for the current triennium (2006–2009); it comprises 5 Working Committees (WOC), 4 Programme Committees (PGC) which are all directly governed by the IGU Coordination Committee.WOCs are responsible for research in the scope of individual links of the gas chain (Exploration & Production of Gas, Gas Storage, Transmission of Gas, etc.), whereas PGCs tackle the development of general global challenges faced by gas industry (Sustainable Development, Strategy, Economics and Regulation, etc.).
In view of the outstanding significance and specific nature, two exploration trends of the IGU have been structured as Task Forces (TF): TF on Research and Development, TF on Gas Market Integration.
The International Gas Research Conference (IGRC) and Intergas Marketing (IGM) started functioning under the auspices of the IGU within the Triennium 2003–2006. Later they were renamed into the IGU Research Conference and the IGU Gas Marketing, respectively, although the abbreviated names of both entities remained unchanged.
Any representative of a Charter or Associate IGU member may become member of the above bodies provided that the following criteria are met:
- good proficiency in the working language of the Union (English), in which all sessions are conducted and all correspondence is maintained;
- professionalism;
- willingness and ability to work in the relevant committee/task force.
The host party (an IGU’s Charter Member) arranges the session; delegates get registered to participate in the event, book hotel rooms, and pay travel and accommodation expenses. No registration fee is charged.
Committees and task forces report on their operational results at regular World Gas Conferences.
The structure of the Union’s governing bodies has been slightly altered for the next Triennium 2009–2012 to be under the presidency of Malaysia.The Task Force on Research & Development and the Task Force on Gas Market Integration have been abolished. Instead the following bodies have been set up:
- PGC Marketing Campaigns;
- TF on Building Strategic Human Capital;
- TF on Nurturing Future Generations;
- TF on Geopolitics of Natural Gas.