Regional Cooperation for Energy Security in Asia

Energy consumption of developing Asian economies like India, China, South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand are increasing rapidly. To meet this increasing demand for energy, these emerging economies will have to increase and diversify their domestic supplies and sources of energy—both conventional as well as non-conventional. In this regard, regional cooperation can play an important role. For instance, it could cover cooperation in exploration in the new economies of Central Asian countries, besides some BIMSTEC and ASEAN countries that have abundant oil and natural gas and renewable energy resources. Cooperation among India, China, Japan and Korea could also cover management of strategic oil reserves, development of a natural gas market in Asia and improvement of energy efficiency and renewable energy. Besides exploring the role for regional cooperation in energy security in Asia, the RIS study explores into India’s energy cooperation possibilities with other countries. As part of this study, a Discussion Paper (#69 on Issues Related to India’s Energy Trading with Central Asian Countries) was also brought out by RIS. The paper examines the potential and challenges that India-Central Asia cooperation in energy.

Research Team: Dr. Barnali Nag et al.