Overview of oil and gas in Southeast Asia

Oil infrastructure of ASEAN

Many Southeast Asian countries produce fossil fuels. While gas production grows, some oil exporting countries now become importers to meet a rising internal demand. With useful data, maps and graphs, here are some clues on the production, distribution, consumption and trade of oil and gas in the region.

On the side of an exhaustive report on Energy Supply Security in 2014, the International Energy Agency – IEA – presents an overview on the situation of Oil and Gas in ASEAN countries, some of its partner countries. This analysis provides interesting considerations to understand the geopolitical implications of the sector on business in Southeast Asia.

Production, demand and imports of Oil and Gas in ASEAN

As a means of introduction on oil and gas in ASEAN, the IEA summarizes the energetic outlook in ASEAN in a set of key data that aggregates production, demand and net imports of oil and gas in order to help assess the dependency of the region.

Production, demand and imports of oil and gas in ASEAN

These figures illustrate two major trends for oil and gas:

  • The widening gap between oil production and demand: as production remains steady the demand for oil keeps on growing, increasing the need for oil imports.
  • The rising demand for natural gas remains below production: even though demand of natural gas rises fast, production also grows, allowing for ASEAN countries to remain net exporters of natural gas.

This next graph also illustrates the broadening of the energy mix in ASEAN countries. The cumulative representation of primary energy sources consumed highlights the rapid growth of coal and natural gas consumption, as ASEAN countries try to diverge from their previous reliance upon oil.

Primary energy sources in ASEAN - 1973-2012
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Oil and gas infrastructure in ASEAN

Aside from these summarizing reports on the production and consumption of energy in the ten ASEAN member counties, the IEA integrates interesting maps that detail the geographic situation of oil and gas resources and their distribution channels in the region.

With major oil and gas fields, pipelines, refineries, Liquid Natural Gas – LNG – terminals upcoming projects and exporting ports, the IEA regroups useful data in two exhaustive maps. They present an educative objective for all, but even more so for actors and businesses of the oil and gas sector of Southeast Asia.

Oil infrastructure of ASEAN

The oil infrastructure of ASEAN map shows an especially strong production in Indonesia and Malaysia. However, this map hides the declining capacities and reserves available in these countries. The recent decrease in oil prices, rising demand and changing landscape in Indonesia also heavily weigh on their production and trade balances.

Oil infrastructure of ASEAN
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Gas infrastructure of ASEAN

The gas infrastructure in ASEAN map also suggest the strong involvement of Thailand, in addition to Malaysia and Indonesia. This map also hides that the region still holds large reserves of natural gas, and that such important resources exacerbate tensions between rival countries, especially in South China Sea area.

Gas infrastructure of ASEAN
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“Energy Supply Security 2014” report

For those who want to go deeper in the understanding of issues, opportunities and security implications of oil and gas in ASEAN, have a look at the the report from the IEA that does present more analysis on both fuels, with regards to production, consumption, imports and energetic security.

Even though this long report primarily covers the interests of IEA countries, it also sumarizes the situation in partner countries and regions, such as ASEAN. Here is a quick summary that will help you browse through the ASEAN part.

Energy Supply Security 2014 - IEA report
Click on the cover to view the Energy Supply Security 2014 report from the IEA

“Energy Supply Security 2014” – summary for ASEAN issues

  • Table of contents – page 7
  • Executive Summary – page 11
  • Chapter 1: Overview – page 13
  • Chapter 2: Emergency oil response systems in IEA countries – page 29
  • Chapter 3: Natural gas security in IEA countries – page 49
  • Chapter 4: Emergency response systems of individual IEA countries – page 65
  • Chapter 5: Emergency response of IEA partner countries – page 501
  • Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – page 502
  • Regional overview – page 505

Oil – page 506

  • Market features and key issues – page 506
    • Oil production – page 506
    • Oil demand – page 506
    • Refining – page 506
    • Imports/exports and import dependency – page 508
  • Emergency response and policy measures – page 508
    • Regional oil security policy developments – page 508
    • Status of strategic oil stockholding in ASEAN countries – page 508
    • Brunei Darussalam – page 509
    • Cambodia – page 509
    • Indonesia – page 509
    • Lao PDR – page 509
    • Malaysia – page 509
    • Myanmar – page 510
    • Philippines – page 510
    • Singapore – page 510
    • Thailand – page 510
    • Viet Nam – page 510

Gas – page 511

  • Market features and key issues – page 511
    • Gas production – page 511
    • Gas demand – page 511
    • Gas import dependency – page 512
    • LNG terminals – page 512
  • Emergency policy – page 513

Graphs and maps from the International Energy Agency report “Energy Supply Security 2014”

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