APEC to back clean, diversified energy in Asia<\/p>\n
TOKYO (Reuter): The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
\nenergy working group will promote cleaner and more diversified
\nenergy sources within its 17 member states, group co-chairman
\nRussell Higgins said.<\/p>\n
\"(APEC's) biggest challenge will be underpinning Asia's rapid
\neconomic growth whilst maintaining environmental protection,\"
\nHiggins said in an interview. He added APEC countries already
\nconsume half of the world's energy.<\/p>\n
The group is meeting in Tokyo to discuss coordinated energy
\ndatabases, clean coal technology and energy conservation.<\/p>\n
Last year, the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and
\nIndustry (MITI) said though Southeast Asia has generally
\nmaintained the highest growth rate in the Asia Pacific region,
\nbottlenecks have developed in infrastructure, manpower, and
\nsupporting industries. Capital and engineer shortages,
\ninsufficient infrastructure and environmental problems were
\nbehind the bottlenecks, MITI added.<\/p>\n
Yet industry analysts and multilateral agencies continue to
\nforecast an energy capacity explosion for the Asia Pacific region
\nover the next decade.<\/p>\n
Many of them expect Asia's ability to feed power to its
\nravenous industries to expand at the rate of 6.8 to seven percent
\nannually, compared with the world average of 3.1.<\/p>\n
An important aspect of APEC's energy strategy will be
\ncoordinating technology transfers from environmentally advanced,
\ndeveloped nations to those whose rapid growth rates have pushed
\nenergy efficiency and environmental concerns to the sidelines,
\nHiggins said.<\/p>\n
Aid<\/p>\n
\"Bilateral aid will be an important facet, but so will the
\nexchange of experts from the developing economies,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG), the rising star of
\nclean energy sources, is already burgeoning in Japan, South
\nKorea, Taiwan and in southern China, Higgins said.<\/p>\n
Japan's Institute of Energy Economics (IEE) places Asia's LNG
\nappetite at 63 to 67 million tons in 2000 and 75 to 95 million
\ntons in 2010, standing in stark contrast with 44 million in 1992.<\/p>\n
\"Japan, especially, is a keen LNG buyer who generally takes
\nits contracted allotments fully,\" Higgins said.<\/p>\n
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Japan
\ndominates trade in this fuel.<\/p>\n
Japan's Gas Association predicts LNG consumed in this country
\nduring the fiscal year starting April 1994 will be approximately
\n10.6 million tons. The IEA sees Japan's LNG demand at 50 to 51
\nmillion tons in 2000 and 54 to 62 million tons in 2010.<\/p>\n
South Korea and Taiwan are also major LNG converts, whose
\nappetites are expected to expand on a similar scale.<\/p>\n
For the moment though, LNG remains an expensive enterprise,
\nand supplies may have been slightly overestimated.<\/p>\n
\"But by the end of the century there will be a (demand) gap
\nthat will need to be satisfied by new sources,\" Higgins said.<\/p>\n
The International Energy Agency said there are 11 new LNG
\nprojects under discussion but that this may be insufficient to
\ncover the 50 percent increase in demand.<\/p>\n
Higgins, who is also executive director at the Australian
\nDepartment of Primary Industry and Energy, added that he thought
\nother potential projects could come from Russia, the Middle East,
\nMalaysia, Australia and Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Diversifying to new energy sources will help APEC nations
\nmaintain their energy security in the face of declining
\nIndonesian and Chinese crude oil supplies and increased
\ndependency on Middle Eastern oil, he said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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