Energy Security in a Volatile World by James Rockall, CEO, World Liquid Gas Association

Energy security is back at the centre of the global energy debate. Not as an abstract concept, and not as a slogan, but as a practical and immediate concern for governments, businesses and households everywhere.

This is the context in which WLGA and the IEA will convene the LPG Leadership Forum in Paris. The Forum comes at an important moment. Governments are reassessing energy security. International organisations are looking again at resilience. Investors are paying closer attention to infrastructure, storage, logistics and distribution. The question is no longer whether energy systems need to change. It is whether they are being built with enough diversity, flexibility and practical resilience to withstand the pressures already around us.

The world has moved through what the IEA has described as the first truly global energy crisis. Whether that crisis is behind us, still unfolding, or reappearing in new forms, the lesson is clear. Energy security is about more than national supply balances, strategic infrastructure or headline energy prices. It is about whether a household can cook, whether a clinic can operate, whether a small business can keep trading, and whether communities can continue when other systems are under stress. That is why LPG and the wider Liquid Gas industry must be part of this debate.

LPG, commonly known in many markets as propane or butane, is one of the most widely used forms of Liquid Gas. It is an energy source that can be stored, transported and used almost anywhere. For those already familiar with the sector, this may seem obvious. For the wider energy policy community, it deserves to be stated clearly. LPG is not only a fuel. It is a delivery system, a storage solution, a resilience asset and an essential part of everyday energy access for millions of people and businesses.

For too long, energy security has been viewed mainly through large centralised systems: power generation, transmission networks, major pipelines, national grids and strategic reserves. These are essential, but recent crises have shown that they are not sufficient on their own. Energy systems are only as strong as their ability to deliver energy where it is needed, when it is needed, and in a form people can actually use.

This is where Liquid Gas has a particular and often under-recognised role. LPG is portable, storable and dispatchable. It can be transported by ship, rail, road and cylinder. It can reach islands, mountain communities, rural households, farms, factories, hotels, hospitals and small businesses beyond the gas grid and beyond reliable electricity networks. It can be stored close to the point of use, deployed quickly, and scaled according to local need. In a volatile world, these qualities are not marginal, they are strategic.

The energy trilemma is usually described as the challenge of balancing security, affordability and sustainability. Too often, however, these objectives are treated as competing priorities. In moments of crisis, security dominates. In moments of price pressure, affordability becomes urgent. In long-term policy debates, sustainability is often placed above all else. The real task is to build energy systems that deliver all three together.

LPG already does this in many parts of the world. It provides reliable energy without requiring massive upfront infrastructure. It reduces reliance on traditional biomass and other highly polluting fuels. It supports economic activity in places that many energy systems struggle to reach. It gives households, businesses and governments another option. In energy security, options matter.

This matters even more as some energy strategies risk replacing one form of dependency with another. Electrification will play a major role in the future energy system, and rightly so. But a system built too heavily around a single energy vector, however clean or efficient, creates new vulnerabilities. Power grids can fail. Transmission networks can be constrained. Supply chains for equipment, critical minerals and generation capacity can become concentrated. Extreme weather, cyber risk and geopolitical disruption can expose weaknesses very quickly.

A secure energy system needs diversity by design. It needs different fuels, different infrastructures, different supply routes and different storage options. It needs flexibility before crisis arrives, not only after it has exposed the weakness. LPG is part of that flexibility.

The global LPG market is diverse and liquid. It is supported by multiple producing regions, extensive seaborne trade, established storage infrastructure and highly adaptable distribution networks. It can move through global supply chains and local last-mile delivery systems. It can support emergency response, industrial continuity, clean cooking, agricultural production, heating, transport and decentralised energy services.

Of course, not every market faces the same resilience challenge. A mature European market, an island economy, a rapidly growing Asian import market or an African clean cooking market will each have different priorities. Some will need more strategic storage. Some will need more import infrastructure. Some will need stronger regional cooperation. Some will need clearer policy recognition of LPG as an essential energy source. Some will need targeted finance to build the infrastructure that allows LPG to reach people reliably and affordably.

But the central question is common to all: how do we ensure that energy continues to reach people in a world of increasing disruption?

That question will sit at the heart of the discussion in Paris. It is why the LPG Leadership Forum matters. It will bring together governments, industry leaders, international organisations and other stakeholders to look at the practical role of LPG in strengthening energy security. It will also give the Liquid Gas industry an opportunity, and a responsibility, to show what it already contributes and what more it can do.

The discussion must be about designing a stronger and more practical energy future. That future must recognise the intrinsic strengths of LPG. It must also recognise the pathway towards renewable Liquid Gas, including renewable propane, renewable butane and other renewable molecules that can progressively reduce the carbon intensity of existing infrastructure over time.

For the Liquid Gas industry, the message is clear. We must demonstrate, with evidence and confidence, that LPG is not simply another fuel in the mix. It is a critical part of the energy security solution. It supports affordability, advances cleaner energy access and strengthens the ability of households, businesses and national energy systems to withstand disruption.

For governments and policy makers, the message is equally clear. Energy security cannot be delivered through narrow choices. It requires diversity, redundancy, flexibility and practical delivery. It requires systems that can function in cities and remote areas, in normal times and in crises, in developed economies and in emerging markets.

In a volatile world, resilience is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Liquid Gas delivers resilience today. The task now is to ensure that its role is fully understood, properly valued and deliberately included in the energy security strategies of tomorrow.