Reassessing Energy Security and the Trans-ASEAN Natural Gas Pipeline Network in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Regulators within Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have heavily promoted investment in natural gas infrastructure to meet burgeoning demand for energy. By 2030, some analysts expect Southeast Asia to become the Persian Gulf of Gas and responsible for one-quarter of world's gas production and use. Perhaps no single project is more emblematic of region's view of energy security and policy than Trans-ASEAN natural gas pipeline (TAGP) system, a proposed network of natural gas pipelines to connect gas reserves in Gulf of Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar and Philippines to rest of region. Advocates of TAGP expect it to promote economic development, earn foreign exchange, mitigate risks of climate change, and enhance regional energy security. Drawing from field research and research interviews, however, this article takes a critical look at region's drive towards TAGP and ASEAN's approach to energy security as a whole. The article argues that plans for TAGP rest on too simple a notion of energy security: secure access to fuel. This conception of energy security ignores important additional dimensions related to availability, affordability, efficiency and environmental and social stewardship. In contrast, paper concludes that TAGP is insufficient, expensive, inefficient, and environmentally and socially destructive.