IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v74y2014icp80-90.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Natural gas in Asia: Trade, markets and regional institutions

Author

Listed:
  • Vivoda, Vlado

Abstract

Natural gas trade in Asia has been dominated by long-established market structures, under which liquefied natural gas (LNG) has remained indexed based on the price of crude oil. High transaction costs in the region in recent years imply that the regional market is sub-optimally organized. Since 2010, the continued prevalence of oil-indexation has had the most adverse effect on Japan, the world’s largest LNG importer. In response, Japan implemented several strategies to challenge traditional LNG pricing mechanisms in the region and ultimately reduce transaction costs. Japan’s efforts include an increase in the share of spot and short-term purchases, sourcing new supplies from the United States under alternative pricing arrangements and driving regional buyer cooperation. This paper evaluates the potential effect of Japan’s LNG strategy on regional pricing in the broader institutional context, arguing that LNG pricing in the region will only partially shift away from oil-indexation by the end of the decade. While recent cooperation among regional LNG importers indicates that there may be scope for change in the regional institutional setting, the degree of cooperation is insufficient to have a profound effect on regional pricing.

Suggested Citation

  • Vivoda, Vlado, 2014. "Natural gas in Asia: Trade, markets and regional institutions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 80-90.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:74:y:2014:i:c:p:80-90
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2014.08.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421514004571
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.08.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yanrui Wu, . "Gas Market Integration: Global Trends and Implications for the EAS Region," Chapters,, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    2. Zhang, Qi & Ishihara, Keiichi N. & Mclellan, Benjamin C. & Tezuka, Tetsuo, 2012. "Scenario analysis on future electricity supply and demand in Japan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 376-385.
    3. Anne Neumann, 2009. "Linking Natural Gas Markets - Is LNG Doing its Job?," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Special I), pages 187-200.
    4. Kumar, Satish & Kwon, Hyouk-Tae & Choi, Kwang-Ho & Hyun Cho, Jae & Lim, Wonsub & Moon, Il, 2011. "Current status and future projections of LNG demand and supplies: A global prospective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4097-4104, July.
    5. Siliverstovs, Boriss & L'Hegaret, Guillaume & Neumann, Anne & von Hirschhausen, Christian, 2005. "International market integration for natural gas? A cointegration analysis of prices in Europe, North America and Japan," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 603-615, July.
    6. Manfred Hafner & Simone Tagliapietra, 2013. "Rethinking Global Natural Gas Markets: New Challenges and Opportunities Ahead," Review of Environment, Energy and Economics - Re3, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, December.
    7. Philip Andrews-Speed, . "Energy Market Integration in East Asia: A Regional Public Goods Approach," Chapters,, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    8. Vivoda, Vlado, 2009. "Diversification of oil import sources and energy security: A key strategy or an elusive objective?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4615-4623, November.
    9. Ken Koyama, 2013. "Japan's Post-Fukushima Energy Policy Challenges," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 8(2), pages 274-293, December.
    10. Langton, Thomas, 1994. "LNG prospects in the Asia--Pacific region," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 257-264, December.
    11. Vivoda, Vlado, 2012. "Japan’s energy security predicament post-Fukushima," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 135-143.
    12. Portugal-Pereira, Joana & Esteban, Miguel, 2014. "Implications of paradigm shift in Japan’s electricity security of supply: A multi-dimensional indicator assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 424-434.
    13. Namikawa, Ryoichi, 2003. "Take-or-Pay under Japanese energy policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(13), pages 1327-1337, October.
    14. Stern, Jonathan, 2014. "International gas pricing in Europe and Asia: A crisis of fundamentals," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 43-48.
    15. Vivoda, Vlado, 2010. "Evaluating energy security in the Asia-Pacific region: A novel methodological approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 5258-5263, September.
    16. Aalto, Pami, 2014. "Institutions in European and Asian energy markets: A methodological overview," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 4-15.
    17. Aguilera, Roberto F. & Inchauspe, Julian & Ripple, Ronald D., 2014. "The Asia Pacific natural gas market: Large enough for all?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 1-6.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aalto, Pami, 2014. "Energy market integration and regional institutions in east Asia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 91-100.
    2. Zhong, Weiqiong & An, Haizhong & Shen, Lei & Fang, Wei & Gao, Xiangyun & Dong, Di, 2017. "The roles of countries in the international fossil fuel trade: An emergy and network analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 365-376.
    3. Zhaoyang Kong & Xiucheng Dong & Zhongbing Zhou, 2015. "Seasonal Imbalances in Natural Gas Imports in Major Northeast Asian Countries: Variations, Reasons, Outlooks and Countermeasures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Gong, Chengzhu & Gong, Nianjiao & Qi, Rui & Yu, Shiwei, 2020. "Assessment of natural gas supply security in Asia Pacific: Composite indicators with compromise Benefit-of-the-Doubt weights," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    5. Zhang, Lingge & Yang, Dong & Wu, Shining & Luo, Meifeng, 2023. "Revisiting the pricing benchmarks for Asian LNG — An equilibrium analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PA).
    6. Catherine Locatelli & Mehdi Abbas & Sylvain Rossiaud, 2015. "Russia and China hydrocarbon relations A building block toward international hydrocarbon regulation?," Working Papers hal-01246346, HAL.
    7. Catherine Locatelli, 2015. "Les échanges gaziers entre la Russie et la Chine à l’ aune de leur sécurité énergétique," Post-Print hal-01206226, HAL.
    8. Tian, Ruijie & Zhang, Qi & Wang, Ge & Li, Hailong & Chen, Siyuan & Li, Yan & Tian, Yulu, 2017. "Study on the promotion of natural gas-fired electricity with energy market reform in China using a dynamic game-theoretic model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1832-1839.
    9. Shi, Xunpeng & Variam, Hari M.P., 2017. "East Asia’s gas-market failure and distinctive economics—A case study of low oil prices," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 800-809.
    10. Theodosios Perifanis & Athanasios Dagoumas, 2020. "Price and Volatility Spillovers between Crude Oil and Natural Gas markets in Europe and Japan-Korea," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 10(5), pages 432-446.
    11. Su, Huai & Zio, Enrico & Zhang, Jinjun & Li, Xueyi, 2018. "A systematic framework of vulnerability analysis of a natural gas pipeline network," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 79-91.
    12. Yan, Zhaojin & Yang, Guanghao & He, Rong & Yang, Hui & Ci, Hui, 2023. "“Ship-port-country” multi-dimensional research on the fine analysis of China's LNG trade," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    13. Ding, Lili & Zhao, Zhongchao & Wang, Lei, 2022. "Probability density forecasts for natural gas demand in China: Do mixed-frequency dynamic factors matter?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    14. Zhang, Hongwei & Wang, Ying & Yang, Cai & Guo, Yaoqi, 2021. "The impact of country risk on energy trade patterns based on complex network and panel regression analyses," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    15. Hupka, Yuri & Popova, Ivilina & Simkins, Betty & Lee, Thomas, 2023. "A review of the literature on LNG: Hubs development, market integration, and price discovery," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    16. Chai, Jian & Wei, Zhaohao & Hu, Yi & Su, Siping & Zhang, Zhe George, 2019. "Is China's natural gas market globally connected?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 940-949.
    17. Li, Jiaman & Dong, Xiucheng & Jiang, Qingzhe & Dong, Kangyin & Liu, Guixian, 2021. "Natural gas trade network of countries and regions along the belt and road: Where to go in the future?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    18. Zhang, Dayong & Shi, Min & Shi, Xunpeng, 2018. "Oil indexation, market fundamentals, and natural gas prices: An investigation of the Asian premium in natural gas trade," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 33-41.
    19. Min Fu & Yang Yang & Lixin Tian & Zaili Zhen, 2017. "The Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Natural Gas Imports in OECD Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-19, November.
    20. Vivoda, Vlado, 2019. "LNG import diversification and energy security in Asia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 967-974.
    21. Wang, Xiaoyu & Wang, Jiaojiao & Wang, Wenhuan & Zhang, Shuquan, 2023. "International and Chinese energy markets: Dynamic spillover effects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    22. Girma T. Chala & Abd Rashid Abd Aziz & Ftwi Y. Hagos, 2018. "Natural Gas Engine Technologies: Challenges and Energy Sustainability Issue," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-44, October.
    23. Aalto, Pami, 2014. "Institutions in European and Asian energy markets: A methodological overview," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 4-15.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vivoda, Vlado, 2019. "LNG import diversification and energy security in Asia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 967-974.
    2. Raghoo, Pravesh & Surroop, Dinesh & Wolf, Franziska & Leal Filho, Walter & Jeetah, Pratima & Delakowitz, Bernd, 2018. "Dimensions of energy security in Small Island Developing States," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 94-101.
    3. Aalto, Pami, 2014. "Institutions in European and Asian energy markets: A methodological overview," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 4-15.
    4. Ang, B.W. & Choong, W.L. & Ng, T.S., 2015. "Energy security: Definitions, dimensions and indexes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1077-1093.
    5. Zhang, Dayong & Shi, Min & Shi, Xunpeng, 2018. "Oil indexation, market fundamentals, and natural gas prices: An investigation of the Asian premium in natural gas trade," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 33-41.
    6. Growitsch Christian & Nepal Rabindra & Stronzik Marcus, 2015. "Price Convergence and Information Efficiency in German Natural Gas Markets," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 87-103, February.
    7. Shi, Xunpeng & Padinjare Variam, Hari Malamakkavu, 2016. "Gas and LNG trading hubs, hub indexation and destination flexibility in East Asia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 587-596.
    8. Dukhanina, Ekaterina & Massol, Olivier & Lévêque, François, 2019. "Policy measures targeting a more integrated gas market: Impact of a merger of two trading zones on prices and arbitrage activity in France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 583-593.
    9. Selvakkumaran, Sujeetha & Limmeechokchai, Bundit, 2013. "Energy security and co-benefits of energy efficiency improvement in three Asian countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 491-503.
    10. Zhaoming Yang & Qi Xiang & Yuxuan He & Shiliang Peng & Michael Havbro Faber & Enrico Zio & Lili Zuo & Huai Su & Jinjun Zhang, 2023. "Resilience of Natural Gas Pipeline System: A Review and Outlook," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-19, August.
    11. Raymond Li, Roselyne Joyeux, and Ronald D. Ripple, 2014. "International Natural Gas market Integration," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    12. Niematallah Elamin & Mototsugu Fukushige, 2017. "The 2011 Japanese energy crisis: Effects on the magnitude and pattern of load demand," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 17-19, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    13. Fátima Lima & Joana Portugal‐Pereira & André F.P. Lucena & Pedro Rochedo & Jorge Cunha & Manuel Lopes Nunes & Alexandre Salem Szklo, 2015. "Analysis of energy security and sustainability in future low carbon scenarios for Brazil," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(3-4), pages 175-190, August.
    14. Chiappini, Raphaël & Jégourel, Yves & Raymond, Paul, 2019. "Towards a worldwide integrated market? New evidence on the dynamics of U.S., European and Asian natural gas prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 545-565.
    15. Chuang, Ming Chih & Ma, Hwong Wen, 2013. "Energy security and improvements in the function of diversity indices—Taiwan energy supply structure case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 9-20.
    16. Lindback, Morten & Osmundsen, Petter & Øglend, Atle, 2013. "Shale Gas and the Relationship between U.S. Natural Gas, Liquified Petroleum Gases and Oil Market," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2013/5, University of Stavanger.
    17. Robert A. Ritz, 2013. "Price discrimination and limits to arbitrage in global LNG markets," Working Papers EPRG 1317, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    18. Matsumoto, Ken’ichi & Shiraki, Hiroto, 2018. "Energy security performance in Japan under different socioeconomic and energy conditions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 391-401.
    19. Liu, Litao & Cao, Zhi & Liu, Xiaojie & Shi, Lei & Cheng, Shengkui & Liu, Gang, 2020. "Oil security revisited: An assessment based on complex network analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    20. Li, Jinchao & Wang, Lina & Lin, Xiaoshan & Qu, Shen, 2020. "Analysis of China’s energy security evaluation system: Based on the energy security data from 30 provinces from 2010 to 2016," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:74:y:2014:i:c:p:80-90. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.