REGIONAL UPDATE
The COVID-19 status in most countries in Asia Pacific is still the same as earlier in the year with countries closing their borders and lockdowns in some of the larger cities. Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and India are still struggling to contain the spread and are now starting to face economic issues mainly due to the prolonged closures of businesses in their respective countries. Vaccination programmes are under way in most countries, however due to supply issues, the pace of vaccination is not as fast as it should be.
International travel is still on hold, with a handful of exceptions. In Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan authorities are experimenting with country-to-country travel bubbles to jumpstart aviation, tourism and business travel. Safe air travel corridors are being established between carefully selected airports, where quarantine-free travel is allowed (with temperature and symptom-checks still in place). We expect a gradual addition of new low-risk countries to these travel bubbles, with the coronavirus-free situation being the main condition for inclusion.
In June, the EIC APAC office in Kuala Lumpur was busy organising the virtual conference sessions for the Energy Exports Conference 2021 (EEC2021) which was held from 14 to 17 June 2021. EIC APAC managed a total of eight speaker sessions featuring 22 key industry speakers from Taiwan, Japan, Australia, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Companies that participated as speakers included Petronas, Shell, Malaysia Marine Heavy Industries (MMHE), Hyundai Corporation, Sembcorp Singapore, Essem Corporation, Western Australia Government Office, Yara, GAIL India, AG&P India, Larsen & Toubro, Sapura Taiwan and the director general of petroleum Sri Lanka. The feedback that we received from delegates, sponsors and speakers was very positive indicating that the event was a greater success than the previous year.
The EIC APAC office is organising regular engagement sessions with new APAC/ASEAN members and will be featuring some of them in virtual webinars. On 16 July EIC APAC organised a networking session among several selected ASEAN members and briefed them about the products and services on offer by the EIC and also to encourage higher usage of EIC DataStream by member companies.
Azman Nasir | Head of Asia Pacific | azman.nasir@the-eic.com
REGIONAL NEWS
DOE, World Bank launch offshore wind roadmap for the Philippines
In an effort to fast-track the Philippines’ target to achieve 35% of renewable energy in its energy mix by 2030, the Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the Philippine Offshore Wind Roadmap project. It is funded through the World Bank Group’s (WBG) Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), with the aim of identifying areas in the country with high potential for offshore wind development. The roadmap will establish both short and long-term offshore wind targets, formulate strategies to integrate offshore wind in the government’s renewable energy portfolio as well as providing recommendations on policies to promote a conducive business environment for offshore wind investors. WBG has estimated that the country’s offshore wind sector has over 170GW of technical potential.
Japan pledges US$10bn in finance to drive ASEAN energy transition
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has offered Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) energy ministers US$10bn in financial aid, focusing on the growth of LNG and renewables, to help accelerate their moves toward energy transition. The support measures and roadmap for changes were unveiled during a virtual meeting of energy ministers from Japan and the ASEAN countries. The offer, which will include loans and investment from Japan’s public and private sector, comes at a time of increasing pressure in the financial sector to restrict finance for fossil fuel projects.