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.