On stage and in the room: DCC Energy's takeaways from Liquid Gas Week 2026

Liquid Gas Week 2026 brought the industry together in Istanbul from 12 to 16 October under the theme ‘Resilience in a Changing World’ – a theme so important that Alparslan Bayraktar, Türkiye's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, attended, marking how closely this year's conversations were tied to national energy policy in the host country.

On Wednesday, Donal Murphy, DCC Energy's Group Chief Executive, opened the day with a short welcome address, speaking in his capacity as both DCC Energy Chief Executive and President of the WLGA. "For our industry, resilience is both a responsibility and an opportunity, and liquid gas stands at the centre of it," he told delegates, setting the tone for the week ahead.

Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, picked up the same theme in his keynote during the week, offering a global view on energy security and market stability and setting out where liquid gas fits into the future fuels mix, describing LPG as having “a very bright future”.

Together, they framed the question that shaped the rest of the week: how can the industry strengthen energy resilience while advancing the transition to a lower-carbon future?

Our involvement in Liquid Gas Week

Wednesday 14 October was a big day for DCC Energy. Hours after Donal’s welcome address, Anna Aldén, our Business Development Manager for sustainable gas, took the stage on the ‘Liquid Gas in Action – Driving Growth Through Applications’ track. Her session put a particular focus on renewable liquid gases, her own area of focus within DCC Energy, making the case with a live example: a demonstration project with Swedish customer Björneborg Steel on renewable dimethyl ether (DME), already running in commercial operations rather than sitting on a roadmap.

Throughout the week, Emmanuel Mannooretonil, Director of Sustainable Gas, contributed to technical and policy conversations running in parallel, including a roundtable convened by SHV Energy on ‘Unlocking renewable liquid gas projects at scale’. DCC Energy has been collaborating with SHV Energy on renewable fuels supply opportunities for almost two years.

“The roundtable brought together a small group of invited companies, and it was genuinely pleasing to see the willingness to continue the conversation and explore a collaborative platform to help scale novel renewable liquid gas production technology,” Emmanuel recalls.

The renewables breakout session was, by Anna’s account, one of the best-attended of the week. The discussion referenced Flogas Britain’s RePeat project, a £2.4 million research and development initiative launched in January 2026 to test a circular farm model that integrates food production, peatland restoration, and renewable energy.

Yvonne Holmes, Group Director of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs, tracked the sustainability, public affairs and communication threads throughout. These provided the opportunity to connect with key stakeholders in the industry and discuss the policy advocacy required to support the role of renewable liquid gas in making the energy system more resilient.

Meanwhile, Mandy O’Sullivan, Group Director of Corporate Development, and Lorcan Glancy, Corporate Development Director, spent the week on a different track – building relationships, sharing insights and identifying opportunities for future growth.

Donal returned to the stage on the Thursday for the closing session, 'Conclusions, Reflections and the Path Forward' – with reflection and direction: priorities for the next 12 months spanning continued investment and growth in future fuels, with reliability and safety built into how the business operates day to day rather than treated as a separate commitment. He also addressed the WLGA's General Assembly, marking the first year of his Presidency.

"Global demand for liquid gas exceeded 373 million tonnes for the first time in 2025, and nearly 100 million tonnes of growth over the past decade," he told members, pointing to the Association's work accelerating clean cooking access and renewable fuel pathways as reasons for confidence heading into 2027.

Taking home the trophies: DCC Energy’s wins

The week was also one to celebrate for DCC Energy. At the WLGA’s Awards, Anna won the Field Groundbreaker Award 2026, Lauryne Alessi of Butagaz won the Young Woman Award 2026 (with Cécile Côme accepting on her behalf), and DCC Energy took home the Safety Leadership Award for a company operating in more than one country.

“We won the safety award, and with me receiving the Field Groundbreaker award, I think it was a real acknowledgement of the work DCC Energy is doing in renewables,” Anna smiles.

Yvonne, three years into working at DCC Energy, says the recognition reflected something she’d noticed from day one: “Safety has always been front and centre. That’s struck me from the moment I joined DCC Energy, and the focus has only stepped up over the last number of years.”

Reflections from the ground

For Lorcan, the standout wasn’t any single theme so much as the scale of collaboration on display. “I was taken aback by the level of increased collaboration between companies, and between markets that are often directly competing with each other – on safety, on the bio side, just sharing best practice across the industry,” he says, and in his view the week also put a common misconception to rest. “There’s probably a misconception that liquid gas is declining, but when you drill into the data and talk to businesses in different markets, it’s clear there remains a strong and evolving role for liquid gas in the energy mix,” he stresses. “There’s a huge opportunity for all of us to build on that.”

Yvonne picked up a similar thread from a policy angle. “We need a policy framework that builds confidence around renewable liquid gas,” she says. “Electrification is central to the transition, and renewable fuels and gases have a complementary role. Supporting both helps deliver decarbonisation at the pace required.” She also calls out a theme that ran through several sessions: a lack of wider awareness of LPG’s role and value. “It’s an essential fuel, and that really hits home when you think about its part in resilience in everyday life, but particularly during a natural disaster or an emergency,” she notes.

Emmanuel’s main takeaway came from a working roundtable on renewable fuels supply, where he drew a comparison with the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). “Aviation fuel consumption is roughly the same order of magnitude as LPG,” he explains. “The SAF industry’s journey shows what early movers, not just producers, can trigger, and how policy can come in at the right point to accelerate development. That’s something for us to keep exploring.”

He was also struck by a surprise from the US market: “It was a good surprise to hear that our US colleagues are seeing growing demand – and growing production – of renewable propane, supported by tax credits and renewable attribute trading. We tend to assume the US is lagging on renewables, and that’s not really the case.”

Collaboration over competition

A recurring theme in some form or another was how much of the week’s value came from informal conversation rather than the main stage. For Lorcan, that meant conversations with a corporate-development lens: “Liquid gas is a key growth pillar of our corporate development strategy. Talking to businesses in other markets, understanding their business models, has me excited about doing more further afield, outside our current core markets.”

Emmanuel’s version of the same theme is more technical: the hope of turning the SHV Energy collaboration into something larger. “I’d love to see that grow into a proper coalition, with real projects to show for it by next year’s Liquid Gas Week. That would be a great achievement for us, and a real step forward for the industry.”

What DCC Energy’s presence achieved

Anna connects the week’s recognition directly to the business’s broader positioning: “I hope DCC Energy is perceived as a frontrunner in many of these key areas – leading the industry in safety, renewables and AI.” She also reflects on how differently the conversation reads depending on where you are in the world, recalling a conversation with someone from Uganda who was building the LPG industry from the start. “It’s really fascinating how different the angles and perspectives are, depending on where you are,” Anna points out.

Meanwhile, Yvonne nods to the rebrand to DCC Energy as part of the same story, adding: “Our presence obviously helps with brand recognition and awareness among peers. Winning awards is always a source of pride, especially in recognising our commitment to safety, which is so important and so core to what we do. It was also wonderful to see two of our female colleagues receive recognition in what remains a traditionally male-dominated industry.”

What liquid gas means for customers

Lorcan sees an opening in how the industry is starting to use data. “We have millions of data points in the market that, historically, we probably haven’t fully leveraged,” he admits. “With AI, there’s more opportunity to use that data to serve customers better – through efficiencies, or just better customer service.”

Yvonne frames it around offering choice, explaining: “A lot of DCC Energy’s customers are rural and off-grid. Electrification will suit some, but not everyone, and the upfront cost of upgrading buildings and heating systems is often a major barrier. If we don’t have renewable gas as an option, those customers simply won’t move – we owe it to them to keep providing solutions across the full breadth, because we have to give customers choice.”

Anna pointed to the policy side of the same issue, citing DCC Energy’s ongoing work on the renewable heating obligation in Europe. “It’s been said in a lot of forums now that there needs to be wider recognition of LPG as a fuel; fossil and renewable,” she notes. “We’ve said it many times – now it’s about making the change happen.”

What are the next steps after Liquid Gas Week?

Asked what they’d want to see changed by this time next year, our people pointed to something concrete rather than a general sense of momentum.

For Yvonne, it’s about following through on the relationships made in Istanbul. “I’m looking forward to building on the relationships made this week and really leveraging them to move the agenda on – across policy, across renewables, and in how we communicate and build awareness,” she shares. “I’m genuinely excited about following up with a number of people I met during the week.”

For Lorcan, it’s both a growth story and a policy one to watch: deepening the relationships formed this week to explore opportunities beyond DCC Energy’s current core markets. Additionally, he’s keen to see more regulatory shifts like Brazil’s recent gas cylinder policy. “The authority identified gaps in the old system and has implemented what looks like a really successful change to make sure that customers who need and can’t afford essential energy, are provided with it,” he says. “It’s something I’d love to see more of, in more markets, over the next 12 months.”

Running through all of it was the week’s theme, resilience, which Yvonne believes the sector has already earned the right to claim: “The sector is used to adapting. There have been all sorts of crises over the last number of years – changing climate, pandemics, geopolitics – and liquid gas has proven itself able to adapt to all of them.”

One thing is certain though; everyone who attended from DCC Energy is in alignment about what needs to be done to build momentum, as Donal told the audience during his final speaking engagement: "We know that the future role of energy is more critical than ever. Policy makers need solutions that are low carbon, contribute to improved air quality, are available and affordable. We know that liquid gas and renewable liquid gas are part of the solution."

Stay tuned for Donal's own reflections on the future of LPG, filmed at Liquid Gas Week as part of WLGA's Leadership Partner series, coming soon.