Asian gas and oil supplies, production, and utilization

Some changes which have occurred recently, or which are now emerging, allow one to consider commercial energy revolving effectively around three poles--oil, natural gas and electricity, and these to be viewed more and more as commodities for services. A hard core of oil consumption, mainly dedicated to the transportation sector, will continue to fuel the crude oil demand growth. In Asia, such a trend will lead to an increasing reliance on Middle East crudes and thus to the need to upgrade the heavier part of the barrel. For its part, natural gas will help to limit the reliance on oil, and its resource base is large enough to offer it increasing shares in two key energy consuming sectors: electricity generation and nitrogen fertilizers. Moreover, concerns about the need to conserve natural gas reserves for use as a feedstock for nitrogen fertilizers and other petrochemicals, do not affect the picture. Limited amounts would be required and a dynamic approach to the development of fossil fuel resources enables the consideration of natural gas as a transitional fuel for the energy hungry power sector. However, in the meantime it is expected to play a key role both in safeguarding the environment and alleviating the investment burden, particularly in the power and nitrogen fertilizer sectors