Asia heavily dependent on oil imports, says Purnomo
Asia heavily dependent on oil imports, says Purnomo
Agence-France Presse, Bangkok
Asia is increasingly turning to the region's largely untapped natural resources in a bid to cut its heavy dependence on Middle East oil imports to meet booming demand for energy, a business symposium was told on Monday.
At least 60 percent of the region's oil needs comes from the Middle East and the figure is projected to rise to 80 percent by 2030, making it even more crucial that Asia has a secure supply of energy to drive its economy.
"Growth in the Asia Pacific region is a dynamic one and energy is needed," Indonesia's Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told top business leaders on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit.
"Yet the region's growth is increasingly dependent on oil which is mostly imported from the Middle East," Purnomo said.
"The disparity between the energy alternatives and the rapid economic growth has put the security of supply as a critical factor," he said.
Indonesia has one of the region's biggest energy supplies and Purnomo said his country would "continue our important role in the region as a supplier of coal, oil and gas."
Chuck Williamson, president and chief executive of Unocal, said the challenge for Asia was to find the funding needed to meet the region's growing energy needs.
"The international Energy Agency predicts that worldwide demand for energy will grow by two-thirds by 2030," he told the symposium.
"Most of the growth will of course come from Asia... obviously this is an enormous challenge for all of the countries involved," he said.
He predicted the region would turn to gas to meet its energy needs as governments sought to find an alternative to oil but the task facing Asia was to find a way to access the untapped reserves.
"So a lot of the challenges ahead evolve around getting some of that undeveloped gas to the markets and the capital required to do that and the different policies and systems required to do that," he said.
According to Williamson, about 60 percent of Asia's oil needs are now met through imports and this is set to increase to 80 percent by 2030.
Listing the recent blackouts in the United States, Williamson said it was critical that Asia finds a secure and reliable source of energy.
"If you all remember earlier this year in the United States in July, there was a period when nearly 30 percent of the United State's electrical grid went dark and it really idled the world's largest economy for several days," he said.
"I think it's a stark reminder of the importance that a secure and reliable supply of energy makes in any economy."
In Southeast Asia alone, it is estimated that at least US$100 billion worth of investments are needed in the power sector to meet the region's rapidly growing needs over the next 12-13 years, a regional forum was told earlier this month in Singapore.