Middle East oil disruptions to hit Asia first - IEA
SINGAPORE: Asia will be the first to feel the impact of any
Middle East oil supply disruption as regional demand surges, the
International Energy Agency said Monday.
IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven said in Singapore that
most of the new oil demand in the next five years will come from Asia,
the Middle East and former Soviet Union states.
“All this means a greater Asian dependence on the import of crude,
often from regions considered politically risky,” she said.
“Asia is the main market outlet for Middle East crude so Middle East
disruptions will touch Asia first,” she told delegates attending an
international energy forum in Singapore.
Van der Hoeven said Asia would not be spared from disruptions even
with increased production in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
With the US economy struggling and the eurozone mired in a debt
crisis, Asia has been leading global economic growth.
A British Petroleum world energy review issued in June showed the
Middle East exported 72 percent of its crude to Asia in 2011, with
China, India, Japan and Singapore among the major destinations. However,
trouble in the Middle East including Iran’s sabre-rattling over
international sanctions linked to its nuclear programme, Libya’s civil
war and ongoing violence in Syria have caused volatility in oil prices
this year.
This month, the IEA forecast global oil demand will grow by half a
million barrels a day less than previously estimated until 2016.
The International Monetary Fund has slashed its global growth
forecast for 2012 to 3.3 percent, down from its July estimate of 3.5
percent.
AFP
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