ASEAN to boost energy security

ASEAN to boost energy security

Agence France-Presse
Kuala Lumpur

ASEAN countries hope to adopt a five-year blueprint in 2004 to
boost energy security, encourage investment and build capacity in
the sector, Malaysia's energy ministry said on Friday.

Senior officials from the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) discussed a draft of the ASEAN Plan of
Action for Energy Cooperation at a four-day meeting in Kuala
Lumpur which ended on Thursday, the ministry said in a statement
to Bernama news agency.

The blueprint will be submitted to ASEAN ministers to be
adopted at their meeting next year in June in the Philippines.

The ministry said the plan of action would ensure the
continuity of major on-going cooperation to enhance energy
security in the region and focus on integrating poorer members
into certain projects to narrow the gap.

This includes the ASEAN power grid, the Trans-ASEAN gas
pipeline, coal, renewable energy, energy efficiency and regional
energy outlook, policy and environmental analysis, it said.

The blueprint will also focus on encouraging a conducive
environment to woo foreign investment, enhance human resources
and capacity building skills, boost energy efficiency and develop
renewable sources of energy, it added.

It is estimated that Southeast Asia's energy requirements will
grow to nearly 400 million tones of oil equivalent by 2020 from
150 million in 2000.

The region will require at least US$100 billion worth of
investment in its power sector over the next 12-13 years to meet
its rapidly growing energy needs, officials said.