Registration: RSVP to Mdm Sutini at meiss@nus.edu.sg

Abstract

The Arab uprisings of 2011 had severe implications for the international energy The risk of a large scale political breakdown in the Gulf, the world’s key oil producing region, on a scale that occurred in Libya would have dire consequences for, not only the region itself, but for the entire global economy. At the same time, the loss of confidence in the Gulf as an energy partner is damaging to the economic future of the region. Especially would the loss of Asian confidence be particularly worrying when considering the fact that Asia’s growing energy demand makes the it the most reliable long-term for the Gulf’s energy exports. In the Asian context, Southeast Asia can be seen as a microcosm of the greater Asian energy scene due to its political, economical and social diversity, as well as its diverse regional energy system. Energy developments in Southeast Asia, therefore, serve as an indicator of wider Asian energy developments in the longer term, an analysis of which has the potential to predict the future of energy in the greater Asian region. This seminar began by highlighting the energy architecture within Southeast Asia and argued that Southeast Asian energy governance is best thought of in terms of a diffuse set of bilateral and multilateral energy arrangements. It also identified how the 2011 popular unrest in the Middle East region affected these arrangements. The seminar concluded that Southeast Asians are generally preparing for a shift towards a more interdependent energy future which relies less on energy imports from unstable exporter regions.