Asia-Pacific turning more to energy sources outside the region - S&P

SINGAPORE - As Asia-Pacific's economic prominence grows, so does its demand for and trade in energy, with China accounting for a big part of it, according to a new report from Standard & Poor's, which says Asian nations are turning increasingly to energy resources outside to meet their needs. Crude oil, coal, and gas imports in Asia-Pacific have doubled as a percentage of total imports over the 20 years to 2012, S&P says. Although sourcing more for energy outside the region, Asia-Pacific needs for refined petroleum are being met increasingly from within.

“Oil is the largest component of Asia-Pacific's energy trade by a wide margin, and has accounted for the lion's share of the increase in trade shares over the past two decades. The commodity constitutes about three-fourths of the total energy trade on both the import and export sides. “
 Besides sourcing from energy suppliers outside the region, China is using its rising wealth and strong external balance sheet to invest in energy production facilities outside Asia-Pacific. “China has made increasing investments in Africa, Central Asia, the five largest Middle Eastern oil producers, and Qatar,” says S&P.
 “Asia's national oil companies generally do not have a funding constraint. Their financial positions are strong enough to allow them to continue making acquisitions and capital expenditures without hurting their credit profiles.” S&P expects capital expenditure of more than US$130 billion annually for the next two years, and acquisitions of at least US$30 billion over the same period. www.standardandpoors.com (ATI).