2012 Energy Security Workshop

"Oil and Gas for Asia: Geopolitical Implications of Asia’s Rising Demand"

NBR and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars co-hosted NBR's eighth annual Energy Security Workshop, "Oil and Gas for Asia: Geopolitical Implications of Asia’s Rising Demand” on May 11, 2012, in Washington, D.C.

Asia’s rapid economic growth is driving an enormous rise in oil and natural gas consumption. At the same time, meeting rising oil demand is increasingly challenged by strong resource nationalism, chronic geopolitical instability in key exporting regions, and what the International Energy Agency and others call the end of the era of “cheap oil.” Rising LNG demand in Asia combined with oil-linked LNG pricing is also driving prices higher at the same time that shale gas is revolutionizing gas markets in North America.

Consequently, angst over high prices and the reliability of future oil and LNG supplies are critical items on the strategic and economic agenda of Asia’s major powers and the United States.

With these concerns in mind, the 2012 Energy Security Workshop examined key issues surrounding Asia’s oil and gas challenges and the geopolitical implications.

Panel discussions addressed:

• How Asia's booming oil import growth is fundamentally reshaping global oil geopolitics and U.S. energy security interests;
• New challenges for U.S. power in the Persian Gulf suggested by Washington’s struggles to draw China, India, Japan, and South Korea into tighter oil sanctions on Iran;
• Whether the mercantilist energy strategies of Asia’s big oil importers and national oil companies (NOCs) are undermining U.S. energy security, and if these strategies are really serving the energy security interests of their home governments;
• Future prospects for LNG in Asia amid rising competition for supplies, the Japan crisis, the continuing Asian LNG price premium, and the emergence of potential U.S. shale gas LNG supplies; and
• Strategies for enhancing U.S. energy security and strategic engagement in the Asia-Pacific.

SPEAKERS AND DISCUSSANTS

Jon B. Alterman
Center for Strategic and International Studies

Philip Andrews-Speed
Transatlantic Academy, the German Marshall Fund of the United States

Kent Calder
School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University

James Clad
IHS/Cambridge Energy Research Associates

Sadanand Dhume
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

Charles Ebinger
The Brookings Institution

Erica S. Downs
The Brookings Institution

David Goldwyn
Goldwyn Global Strategies, LLC

Hao Yufan
University of Macau; The Brookings Institution

Mikkal Herberg
The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR)

Tomoko Hosoe
FACTS Global Energy

Michihiro Kishimoto
Japan Oil, Gas, and Metals National Corporation

Michael Kugelman
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

John V. Mitchell
Chatham House

Sheila A. Smith
Council on Foreign Relations

Nikos Tsafos
PFC Energy

BACKGROUND ON NBR'S ENERGY SECURITY PROGRAM

Now in its eighth year, the Energy Security Program convenes top energy and geopolitical experts from industry, academe, and policy for an assessment of the developments taking place in Asian energy markets and their implications for geopolitics. To inform and strengthen the public policy dialogue, experts share insights and recommendations through a number of channels, including an invitation-only spring workshop, NBR’s annual Energy Security Report, and a public fall launch event.

Learn more about the Energy Security Program.

On January 26, NBR’s Mikkal Herberg testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on how China's increasing demand for oil affects global energy security. Access his testimony and the hearing video.

Read the 2011 Energy Security Report Asia's Rising Energy and Resource Nationalism: Implications for the United States, China, and the Asia-Pacific (September 2011).