Gastech: Asia Gas Importers Demand Transparent Pricing

Although Asia stands to benefit from the shale oil revolution, it is crucial that the market should be restructured to deliver a fairer and more transparent pricing system, officials from leading regional importers told Gastech 2014 on 24 March.

“The price of energy has escalated 170% in the last five years for major Asian buyers,” said Sheng Chung Lin, chairman of Taiwan’s CPC Corporation, pointing specifically to India, China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. “Ensuring a stable supply at a reasonable price is a critical concern. The ‘Asia premium’ has become a hot topic,” he added.

Panelists at a plenary session, “Strategies for securing Asia’s future gas demand,” called for shorter-term, more flexible energy contracts and less stringent regulation of the global natural gas industry. They also said that more robust national policy support for natural gas investments is needed in order to make imports of natural gas more affordable for Asia.

The irony is that while Asia is paying higher prices for natural gas and LNG, it should be benefiting from the discovery of new sources of gas supplies to meet strong demand in the region.

Supplies from Australia, East Africa, North America, Russia and Indonesia should increase in the coming years, which could change the pricing framework, said Hirobumi Kiwano, President of Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC).

Shigeru Muraki, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive of Energy Solutions for Tokyo Gas Company, said the creation of Asian gas trading hubs in Korea, Japan and Singapore should help establish market-based prices indexes for gas that would be “rational and reasonable.”