Many nations in Southeast Asia began significantly ramping up import volumes in the early 2010s as domestic gas reserves dwindled. Thailand led the push. The country built two major import terminals and took steps to liberalize its domestic gas market. By 2022, natural gas generated more than half its electricity, with L.N.G. accounting for nearly a quarter of that supply — up from just 2 percent in 2011, according to data from the Asia Pacific Energy Research Center, a research organization in Tokyo.
The Russia-Ukraine war dented confidence in L.N.G. When Moscow cut pipeline supplies to Europe in 2022, wealthy European nations pivoted to the global L.N.G. market, often outbidding developing Asian economies. The resulting shortages forced countries to curb imports and endure rolling blackouts. In Thailand, electricity rates rose to record highs, prompting the government to postpone the retirement of coal-fired units at the Mae Moh power plant.
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Four years later, the pattern is repeating. This month, the Thai government ordered coal-fired power plants to operate at full capacity and began tapping heavily into a state energy-subsidy fund to help absorb price shocks.
With ships being rerouted, “it’s once again widening economic disparities between the richer countries and the emerging economies,” said Dinita Setyawati, an Indonesian-based senior energy analyst at Ember, a think tank.
In Bangladesh, utilities have begun significantly increasing their use of coal to create electricity since the start of the war in Iran, data from Bangladesh’s state-owned company responsible for electricity transmission show.
Supply disruptions are causing problems in Asia’s most developed economies as well. Taiwan’s economy ministry said this month that it would be prepared to buy more L.N.G. from the United States and restart its retired Hsinta coal-fired power plant if supply disruptions persisted through April. South Korea is also preparing to boost nuclear and coal-fired power generation to offset volatility in oil and L.N.G. supply, its industry minister said last week.
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