ASEAN agrees to jointly import LNG

KUALA LUMPUR, October 8 (TNA) - Member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to collectively import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to boost the 10-member grouping's bargaining power on the world market. Thai Energy Minister General Anantaporn Kanchanarat told journalists that the agreement, proposed by Singapore, was reach on Wednesday at the 33rd ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, during October 7-8. General Anantaporn said that the ASEAN Council on Petroleum (ASCOPE) was then assigned to discuss in details how import procedures should be made. According to the Thai energy minister, who attends the two-day AMEM, it was projected that LNG consumption in ASEAN would soar to 250 billion cubic metres by 2035, from 141 billion cubic metres in 2013. For a joint cooperation to construct a cross-border electricity transmission line between Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, the Thai energy minister noted that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the project has not yet been signed. The energy minister explained that Singapore, which earlier proposed to buy 100 megawatts of power produced from a hydraulic power plant in Laos, requested for the postponement of the MOU signing due to an economic slowdown. Singapore is expected to buy electricity from Laos in 2018 as earlier planned under the project, while Thailand is ready to cooperate. The 33rd AMEM also agreed to adjust the ASEAN energy for 2016–2025 plan, aimed at increasing efficiency of energy consumption in the region through lowering the proportion of energy use in ASEAN's gross domestic product (Energy Intensity of GDP) by 20 per cent within 2020 and by 30 per cent within 2025, using 2005 as the base year. The 33rd AMEM also resolved to promote more use of alternative energy to 23 per cent by 2025 and agreed, for the first time, to promote the utilisation of green coal technology for power production. Touching on the Thai government’s efforts to construct coal-powered electricity plants, the Thai energy minister acknowledged that the plants must be built with the approval of people living in areas where the plants will be constructed, stressing that such plants need to be built to secure power sufficiency in the country. (TNA)