SINGAPORE, Sept 27 (Reuters) – Singapore’s Pavilion Energy is looking to expand into Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Myanmar where demand for natural gas is expected to grow, its interim chief executive said on Monday.
There will be opportunities to supply natural gas to growing markets in the region that are currently dependent on domestic gas and coal, Alan Heng said in a pre-recorded speech for the annual Platts APPEC 2021 conference.
“Some of the nearby countries such as Vietnam and even Myanmar when they reopen are possible markets we are looking to expand from Singapore,” he said.
“Southeast Asia is a hotspot for energy transition … there are great opportunities in solar, wind, geothermal in some of the neighbouring countries, but there is still a need for gas.”
Pavilion, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore’s state investor Temasek Holdings (TEM.UL), is working with authorities in Singapore to strengthen the country’s gas supply network as the city-state develops its renewables infrastructure, he said.
Pavilion, which has a liquefied natural gas (LNG) business centred around Singapore and Spain, is building an emissions business to help LNG transition to the future as countries push to meet greener targets, Heng added.
It imported Singapore’s first carbon neutral LNG cargo this year where the carbon emissions linked with the cargo from well-to-tank was offset by “retiring”, or removing from the system, a corresponding amount of high-quality carbon credits sourced from its portfolio of carbon offset projects. read more
Meanwhile, a post-pandemic economic improvement is driving energy demand and in turn prices, Heng said.
“Pandemic has proved that we need to build a more resilient supply chain,” he added.
“We have seen companies move towards strengthening this resilience by changing this supply chain so that they are not overly dependent on one location of manufacturing or distribution, and this will lead to change in shipping and air routes over time.”
This year, the APPEC conference is being held in a hybrid format, including both in-person and virtual participants.
Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Himani Sarkar
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
