The Working Party on Gas had its genesis during the decade of the 1950s, a period of growing recognition within the ECE community of the role of the gas industry in meeting the fuel requirements of the region. The Economic Commission for Europe, at its eleventh session in 1956, decided to set up an Ad Hoc Working Party on Gas Problems. In the course of ECE reforms in 1990, the principal body for the ECE gas activities was given the present name - Working Party on Gas.