APEC to back clean, diversified energy in Asia

APEC to back clean, diversified energy in Asia

TOKYO (Reuter): The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
energy working group will promote cleaner and more diversified
energy sources within its 17 member states, group co-chairman
Russell Higgins said.

"(APEC's) biggest challenge will be underpinning Asia's rapid
economic growth whilst maintaining environmental protection,"
Higgins said in an interview. He added APEC countries already
consume half of the world's energy.

The group is meeting in Tokyo to discuss coordinated energy
databases, clean coal technology and energy conservation.

Last year, the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and
Industry (MITI) said though Southeast Asia has generally
maintained the highest growth rate in the Asia Pacific region,
bottlenecks have developed in infrastructure, manpower, and
supporting industries. Capital and engineer shortages,
insufficient infrastructure and environmental problems were
behind the bottlenecks, MITI added.

Yet industry analysts and multilateral agencies continue to
forecast an energy capacity explosion for the Asia Pacific region
over the next decade.

Many of them expect Asia's ability to feed power to its
ravenous industries to expand at the rate of 6.8 to seven percent
annually, compared with the world average of 3.1.

An important aspect of APEC's energy strategy will be
coordinating technology transfers from environmentally advanced,
developed nations to those whose rapid growth rates have pushed
energy efficiency and environmental concerns to the sidelines,
Higgins said.

Aid

"Bilateral aid will be an important facet, but so will the
exchange of experts from the developing economies," he said.

Demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG), the rising star of
clean energy sources, is already burgeoning in Japan, South
Korea, Taiwan and in southern China, Higgins said.

Japan's Institute of Energy Economics (IEE) places Asia's LNG
appetite at 63 to 67 million tons in 2000 and 75 to 95 million
tons in 2010, standing in stark contrast with 44 million in 1992.

"Japan, especially, is a keen LNG buyer who generally takes
its contracted allotments fully," Higgins said.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Japan
dominates trade in this fuel.

Japan's Gas Association predicts LNG consumed in this country
during the fiscal year starting April 1994 will be approximately
10.6 million tons. The IEA sees Japan's LNG demand at 50 to 51
million tons in 2000 and 54 to 62 million tons in 2010.

South Korea and Taiwan are also major LNG converts, whose
appetites are expected to expand on a similar scale.

For the moment though, LNG remains an expensive enterprise,
and supplies may have been slightly overestimated.

"But by the end of the century there will be a (demand) gap
that will need to be satisfied by new sources," Higgins said.

The International Energy Agency said there are 11 new LNG
projects under discussion but that this may be insufficient to
cover the 50 percent increase in demand.

Higgins, who is also executive director at the Australian
Department of Primary Industry and Energy, added that he thought
other potential projects could come from Russia, the Middle East,
Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia.

Diversifying to new energy sources will help APEC nations
maintain their energy security in the face of declining
Indonesian and Chinese crude oil supplies and increased
dependency on Middle Eastern oil, he said.