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ENERGY
YUTHANA PRAIWAN
East and Southeast Asian nations should collaborate to secure oil stockpiles to strengthen their negotiating power with oil-exporting countries, says Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan.
''We should think seriously about [an oil] stockpile for the sake of energy security. It needs to be discussed where the stockpile should be built, by whom and how to create regional self-sufficiency and sustainable growth for energy,'' Dr Surin said at a regional energy forum yesterday in Bangkok.
Energy ministers from Asean plus South Korea, China and Japan (Asean+3) are expected to propose details of the stockpiling plan today.
''By doing so, we can create bargaining power in the region,'' said Dr Surin, ''Japan is one of the most efficient energy users, its help will be very important for our development.''
He also pointed out that Thailand had strong potential if it could develop the planned Southern Seaboard and landbridge as a petroleum logistics gateway for the region.
The Asean ministers have agreed with their East Asian peers to set up a working panel on oil stockpiling, with the first meeting expected to take place in Manila in late November as the Philippines has offered to be a centre of oil stockpiling.
The ministers also called on countries that subsidise fuel prices, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, to gradually phase out payments.
''Market-based energy pricing helps markets send the appropriate signals to enhance energy efficiency and increase investment in alternative energy sources,'' they said in a joint statement.
In a related development, Laos yesterday proposed a 16.6% increase in the costs of power sales to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) to cover the higher construction costs of its hydropower plants.
Power prices needed to be increased for the four plants partly because construction was a year behind schedule and construction costs were rising, said Xaypaseuth Phomsoupha, the director-general of the Energy Promotion and Development Department of Laos.
The Vientiane government's UK-based consultant, PB Power Ltd, has proposed a new rate to match rising costs at seven US cents per kilowatt-hour (unit) from a range of 5.34 to 6.14 cents set earlier.
The four hydropower plants include the 523-megawatt Nam Theun 1 developed by Thailand's Egco Group Plc and Malaysia's Gamuda and due to come online in 2011; the 261 MW Nam Ngiep, developed by Egat International and Japan's Kansai Electric, with a 2014 start date; the 440-MW Nam Ngum 3 built by Marubeni, MDX and Ratchaburi Holding Plc (2013); and the 1,100 MW Nam Ou being built by Egat International and Sino Hydro of China (2015).
Mr Xaypaseuth said the actual cost increases were 25-30% but his government had helped investors with a tax holiday and lower resource usage fees.
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