Southeast Asia’s energy ministers are meeting this week to discuss regional energy security against the backdrop of supply disruptions caused by the US-Israel war on Iran. The gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Wednesday and Thursday comes as the region is seeking to lessen its dependence on energy supply chains upended by conflict in the Middle East. The meetings in Manila, the Philippines, are expected to discuss various initiatives on energy cooperation and clean energy, including a framework on fuel-sharing and the integration of the region’s power grids.
ASEAN, one of the world’s fastest-growing economic blocs with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $4.2 trillion, is heavily dependent on imported oil and natural gas. ASEAN’s 11 member states imported about half of their oil needs from the Middle East before the start of the Iran war in late February, leaving them highly exposed to supply constraints stemming from the effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz. The Philippines, the current chair of ASEAN, declared a national energy emergency within weeks of the start of the war amid warnings that fuel supplies could run dry in 45 days.
Other ASEAN economies, including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia, rolled out energy-conservation measures ranging from work-from-home arrangements to fuel rationing. Electricity demand in the region, home to more than 700 million people, is projected to rise by an average of 5.4 percent annually from 2026 to 2030, according to the IEA. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol warned on Monday that Southeast Asia would face challenges meeting its growing energy needs amid an “uncertain global energy landscape”.
Only nine of 18 projects identified as priorities under the ASEAN Power Grid initiative have been completed since the plan was first mooted in the late 1990s. Unlike the European Union, ASEAN lacks a central, supranational authority and cannot pass or enforce laws, a structure critics say hampers the bloc’s effectiveness. Laurence Delina, an associate professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who specialises in energy policy in Southeast Asia, said ASEAN’s rhetoric has long exceeded its achievements, with cooperation largely limited to bilateral energy-sharing agreements.
Delina said integrating the region’s energy grid would be as much a political as a technical challenge. It’s very different from country to country.” Setyawati at Ember expressed optimism that ASEAN ministers will commit more funding to renewables and electrification to reduce the region’s dependence on fuels.
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