ASEAN nations need energy choices: Expert

BANDUNG (JP): ASEAN countries need to seek alternative energy sources in order not to become importers of oil and coal when energy demands increase in the 21st century, an expert says.

Hasan Ibrahim, director of the ASEAN-European Commission Energy Management Training and Research Center, said at an environment workshop here yesterday that efforts to intensify, conserve and diversify energy sources should be taken while the countries still have adequate supplies.

"At the moment alternative energy is still an option. It will soon become an absolute necessity," he told experts and officials 0from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which groups Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

He said that although the region's production of energy is considerable, its consumption is just as high. "This situation will soon become a problem," he said.

He suggested that the ASEAN countries intensify cooperation. He cited the arrangement under which Thailand supplies Malaysia with electricity for its off-peak hour demands during day time, while Malaysia returns the supply to Thailand at night.

"The barter is not a real trade, but it's a good arrangement," he said.

There are ASEAN members rich in energy sources and others with more limited sources, he said, adding that cooperation will benefit every member.

Ibrahim also analyzed how each ASEAN country meets its energy needs. Indonesia, he said, has been intensifying its exploration for and exploitation of energy resources, while launching further conservation and diversification efforts.

Within a short period, Indonesia has reduced its energy consumption by 15 percent, he said.

Singapore has also launched new measures, including the conservation and diversification of energy sources, he said.

The Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia have recently launched some policy reforms in the electric power sectors, a development which some observers believe will disrupt the supply and demand for coal across Asia.

A Japanese study conducted last year predicted that the demand for coal in the next decade will rapidly increase, mainly in Indonesia and the Philippines. Large-scale imports of foreign coal in and after 2005 are planned in Thailand.

Of the four countries, Indonesia is expected to show the sharpest increase in demand, with consumption projected to jump from five million tons in 1993 to about 17 million tons in 1998 and almost 35 million tons in 2003.

At the same time, the demand for oil is projected to decline gradually in the four ASEAN economies, with consumption in 2000 expected to drop to almost half the 1995 level. (17/swe)