Roadmap for the Development of Downstream Natural Gas Markets

October 2020 – Under the auspices of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Regional Development Mission for Asia (USAID/RDMA) and in support of the Asia EDGE initiative, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), together with the U.S. Energy Association (USEA), is engaged in the Asia Gas Partnership (AGP) Program to establish a public-private partnership involving government and industry representatives from the U.S. and Indo-Pacific countries.

The objective of the AGP is to share best practices in the development of secure, reliable, and economic regulatory frameworks governing natural gas sector development while facilitating investment and regulatory advancements in the energy industry - to ultimately stimulate gas demand growth by optimizing gas network infrastructure development and developing domestic gas markets in Asia.

In this context, NARUC created the "Roadmap for the Development of Downstream Natural Gas Markets" (Roadmap) to share through the AGP Program as an informative step-by-step reference for energy regulators and energy sector decision makers in countries introducing liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and subsequently overseeing domestic regulation of nascent downstream natural gas markets.

This Roadmap is not meant to be a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather a resource that provides steps for consideration in establishing robust downstream natural gas markets, based on historical progress and current practices in the U.S. Its contents outline the following:

the key foundational tenets governing the structure of well-functioning, competitive downstream natural gas sectors as exhibited through best practices gleaned from the establishment of liberalized natural gas sector and market reforms in the U.S.
recommended key regulatory steps, provisions, and considerations necessary to establish diversified and competitive downstream gas sectors in countries integrating imported LNG resources

You can access and download the Roadmap here.