Japan to propose Asian version of IEA at AZEC summit

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to propose at an upcoming regional summit in Manila the creation of an Asian version of the International Energy Agency (IEA), informed sources said Sunday.

Through the envisioned framework, which would call for cooperation in oil stockpiling in preparation for energy crises, Japan aims to strengthen Asia’s energy supply chains, whose vulnerability has been exposed in the wake of the ongoing Middle East turmoil.

Takaichi will present the plan at a summit Tuesday of the 11-member Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC), a regional cooperation framework for realizing carbon neutrality, the sources said.

Japan will play a role in establishing the Asian version of the IEA while the Jakarta-based Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, or ERIA, which investigates and researches energy security issues in the region, will serve as the secretariat for the new framework.

Working with the Paris-based IEA’s new base to be set up in Tokyo, the new regional framework will help member nations share expertise on oil stockpiling and make rules on the release and sharing of oil reserves in the event of an emergency.

The IEA, established in 1974, after the first oil crisis, requires member countries to stockpile oil equivalent to 90 days of consumption.

In response to the Middle East tensions, IEA member countries jointly released oil reserves on a large scale in and after March this year. But no ASEAN member nations participated in the concerted initiative.

In April, Japan, which relies on ASEAN countries for the supply of oil-based products such as surgical gloves, announced the launch of the Partnership on Wide Energy and Resources Resilience Asia, or Powerr Asia, which is designed to help make the region’s supply chains resilient.

Elsewhere at the AZEC summit, Takaichi is expected to propose the use of idled oil storage tanks in Japan. Specifically, Japan will consider cooperating for a Philippines-led initiative to develop a joint oil reserve system for Southeast Asia and establishing a mechanism allowing nations in the region to buy oil on a priority base in the event of an emergency.

The AZEC members other than Japan and the Philippines are Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.