Two-way deals with alternative suppliers should help ease shortages, but a longer war would require concerted efforts, said Hiroshi Hashimoto, senior fellow at Japan’s Institute of Energy Economics.
“If the crisis continues for a prolonged period, Asian countries may need to develop multilateral frameworks to help each other and talk to alternative supply sources.”
RUSSIA COULD BE UNLIKELY ALTERNATIVE SUPPLIER
Russia could prove to be an unlikely supplier for some Asian countries after the United States issued a temporary waiver of sanctions for its attack on Ukraine.
For the first time in years, South Korea imported Russian naphtha this week, a feedstock critical for making plastics used in everything from automobiles to electronics, and also seeks to secure crude oil, its energy ministry said.
India has stepped up purchases of oil from Russia, with which Bangladesh, Thailand and Sri Lanka are also in talks.
It could be challenging to finalise arrangements with Russian oil companies before the Apr 11 expiry of the US sanctions waiver, however, said Janaka Rajakaruna, chairman of Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp.
Small countries such as New Zealand are keenly aware they could be vulnerable amid a scramble for fuel set to get more frenetic in the next few months.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has spoken by telephone in recent weeks with the leaders of Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, New Zealand’s three largest suppliers of refined products, as well as with the head of the European Commission.
Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones told Reuters he had also contacted big commodity traders, among others, in the effort to shore up fuel supplies.
“Unless you build options, we’re too small to get noticed in a maddening, frenzied search for fuel in another two or three months,” Jones added.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/iran-war-asia-barters-scarce-energy-supplies-6030136
