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Industry experts and political commentators will address the political dimensions of Asian energy demand at the 5th International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE) Asian Conference .

To be held at The University of Western Australia this February, the conference will cover recent political developments as they relate to energy markets. These include: Russia increasing its energy exports to Asia, Western sanctions on Iran’s energy trade being loosened and Asia’s increasing reliance on Middle Eastern oil supplies.

Discussion will be moderated by Gordon Flake, CEO of the Perth USAsia Centre, with panellists from Woodside, Paladin Energy and Hogan Lovells.

2015 President of the International Association for Energy Economics and conference organiser, Professor Peter Hartley, said there are significant geopolitical implications of Asian energy demand growth.

“The Asian region is already a major net importer of energy but this is expected to increase dramatically over the coming decades as large economies in Asia continue to grow at a higher than average rate,” Professor Hartley said.

“One of the more interesting developments is Russia’s decision to increase energy exports to Asia. Traditionally, Russia has been a major supplier of oil and gas to Europe, but recent European sanctions (following the annexation of Crimea) and antitrust cases have affected this relationship.

“The Russian government has announced a program to increase that the country’s share of oil exports going to the Asia-Pacific region from the current proportion of roughly 25%.

“The impact of a re-distributed energy trade will extend to infrastructure developments as well as global energy security and international negotiations and arrangements over issues other than energy.”

The 5th IAEE Asian Conference will be held at the UWA Business School from 14-17 February.

The Conference is sponsored by EY, UBS, Woodside Energy, City of Perth, Alinta Energy, ATCO Australia, Broadspectrum, Hogan Lovells, Monadelphous, Paladin Energy, Perth Energy, Shell and UWA’s Energy and Minerals Institute.

Media references

Karen Della Torre (UWA Business School)                                           (+61 8) 6488 8538
Verity Chia (UWA Business School)                                                    (+61 8) 6488 1346