Thailand on the itinerary as focus on Asia’s energy security grows
It’s fantastic to be preparing to embark on another trip to Thailand, with really important conversations about Asia’s energy future on the agenda.
As I’ve written previously, Thailand is a key country of interest to the Asia Natural Gas and Energy Association (ANGEA) – partly because of its own ambitions and progress towards genuine energy transition supported by natural gas, but also because of its potential to be a regional leader (and example to other countries) in low carbon energy solutions.
The visit to Bangkok for the Future Energy Asia Exhibition and Summit (starting May 17) will be a little bit of a milestone for ANGEA, as the first such event at which we’ve taken on an exhibitor role.
We’re looking forward to engaging with a wide cross-section of the Asian energy community and other associated sectors. If you’re at the event, please stop by Stand EG13 for a chat.
I’m excited about the opportunity to be part of an LNG Buyers Panel at the event that will discuss how countries, industries and companies in Asia can navigate changing gas and LNG markets. The last 18 months have seen particularly sizeable shifts in the LNG landscape and decisions being made now will be pivotal towards Asia’s energy future.
Of course, Future Energy Asia will wrap up against the backdrop of the G7 Summit starting in Hiroshima on May 19.
Energy security, supply and transition are certain to be on the agenda for G7. ANGEA and its member companies have been encouraged by participating countries’ reinforcement of the role of natural gas in energy transition at lead-up meetings to the Summit.
We’ll be closely monitoring the outcomes at G7, particularly those related to energy security – which is a topic we’ll be increasingly seeking to raise awareness around in the weeks and months to come.
The challenges of energy security are well understood within Asia, especially in countries that have limited resources of their own.
But I think the critical nature of energy security for Asia isn’t always fully understood in other jurisdictions, including those that are current and possibly future trade partners for energy sources such as LNG.
Broader understanding of energy security is something ANGEA is committed to addressing, through our engagements with governments, companies, industry and media around the world and via own our growing communications platforms.
During the past week I had a couple of very welcome opportunities to continue “spreading the message” about the vital role natural gas and LNG can play in Asian energy transition.
Firstly, I spoke virtually to the Future Energy Exports (FEnEx) CRC Conference in Australia. CRCs – cooperative research centres – are Australian Government-led initiatives that help industry-led collaborations between industry, researchers and end users.
As I outlined to conference attendees, Australia certainly has a massive opportunity to export its natural cleaner energy resources and technologies. But that opportunity can only be fully realised and benefits delivered to other parts of the world if policy and regulatory settings remain transparent and reliable.
The same day I was invited to speak Chief Negotiators of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) who were visiting Singapore for stakeholder discussions. The IPEF is a regional arrangement to build cooperation and economic integration in the Indo-Pacific, with member countries the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
In my discussions, I raised the importance of natural gas in the energy transition in Asia. Given the significant role that gas must play in Asian decarbonisation I strongly recommended that natural gas form part of any IPEF Pillar 3 statement.
ANGEA is grateful for both of these speaking opportunities.
As I’ve noted before, Asia needs the world’s support – and access to its gas – to sustain much-needed economic growth while also achieving crucial climate goals.
It’s vital to Asia’s economic future that policy-makers and key stakeholders around the world appreciate that balance and how natural gas can help achieve it.
Achieving such appreciation is at the heart of ANGEA’s work.
Paul Everingham is the inaugural CEO of the Asia Natural Gas and Energy Association (ANGEA), which works with governments, society and industry throughout Asia to build effective and integrated energy policies that meet each country’s climate objectives.
Photo by Florian Wehde on Unsplash