Letter from Singapore: Asia’s LNG love story still needs writing
Gas is set for major growth in Asia but countries in the region are moving at differing paces and some remain highly sensitive to prices
LNG needs to address its public relations problem. Industry experts at Petroleum Economist’s Asian LNG Strategy event in Singapore in May grappled hard with how to describe the fuel. Parallels with the parable of the blind men and the elephant came to mind as the speakers described it as a fossil fuel, a transition fuel, a back-up fuel, a bridging fuel, a growth fuel and a potential primary fuel for some countries in the region. The opportunity and anecdotal evidence is there for huge LNG growth in Asia, but policymakers and industry participants will need to muster the confidence to invest both figuratively and literally. “Expanding reliance on natural gas imports is a far-reaching op
Also in this section
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
8 January 2026
The region’s access to versatile feedstock, combined with policy support, is setting it up to meet growing demand both at home and abroad
7 January 2026
No longer can the energy source be considered a sidekick to oil in the Middle East and neither should it step aside for less convincing alternatives






