Managing risk in Asia's oil and gas business

The business environment and economic outlook for Asia's energy business was discussed. This paper focused on the risks in Asia's oil and gas business. It was predicted that the economic crisis may deepen in 1998/99 before recovering by 2000 at the earliest. Key risk factors were cited as further currency devaluations, deterioration of the banking sector and social unrest. At the same time, it was also predicted that within 4-6 years, economic growth rates in Asia will be higher than in the rest of the world. Currently, the main risks associated with the energy industry are currency collapse, highly leveraged buyers and sellers, politics, different types of joint venture partners, each type representing a different type of risk, demise of the old networks, reluctance to accept the reality of the economic collapse and to deal with the collapse the only way that may be effective. figs