Several countries in Asia have introduced rationing or other measures to reduce energy consumption amid fuel supply disruption and rising global oil prices triggered by the conflict in West Asia.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh closed all universities starting Monday and brought forward the Eid al-Fitr holidays as part of emergency measures to conserve fuel and electricity, Reuters reported. The decision will also help ease traffic congestion, which causes wastage of fuel, the agency quoted the authorities as saying. The country imports 95% of its energy needs.
Dhaka had on Friday imposed a daily cap on the sale of fuel after incidents of panic buying and hoarding, Reuters reported.
A shortage of gas had already led the country to halt operations at some state‑run fertiliser plants, the news agency reported. The available gas had been redirected to power plants.
Southeast Asia
On Wednesday, Myanmar’s military government introduced an “odd-even” rationing system for private vehicles, Reuters reported. Cars with even-numbered plates can be used on even dates and odd-numbered on odd dates. Electric vehicles and electric motorcycles were exempted.
In the Philippines, civil servants were directed to work four days in an attempt to cut fuel consumption, Nikkei Asia reported on Monday.
In Vietnam, the government on Sunday proposed to remove tariffs on imported fuels till the end of April. The measure, which will lead to a loss of revenue, has been considered necessary to “support businesses in proactively securing their supply sources, contributing to stabilising the domestic petroleum market and ensuring energy security”, the government said.
Towns in parts of Western Australia had also begun rationing fuel, ABC News reported on Monday. The fuel stations were selling it only for emergency purposes and essential services. Vehicles in at least two towns were being barred from purchasing fuel.
The South Korean government did not announce curbs, but said that it will cap local fuel prices to “prevent abnormal pricing of petroleum products and improve price predictability”, Yonhap reported on Monday. It would be the first time since 1997 that the system is introduced.
Similarly, Taiwan on Monday set a weekly cap on oil price increases to protect its economy from the impact of the conflict, Bloomberg quoted a Taipei-based newspaper as saying.
A day prior, the country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs announced that domestic fuel prices would only increase by 5% this week, instead of 19.7%, under the floating oil price adjustment mechanism.
In Thailand, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul urged the public not to stockpile fuel and announced plans to cap diesel prices for about two weeks, BBC reported.
In India, the price of liquified petroleum gas was on Saturday hiked by Rs 60 per domestic cylinder.
Global oil prices soar
Global oil prices crossed the $100 per barrel-mark on Monday, the highest since July 2022.
The price of benchmark Brent crude jumped to $116 per barrel during the day, before falling to about $104. The price was about $72.8 per barrel on February 27, a day before the conflict started.
The prices have risen by about 50% since the conflict started.
The escalating tensions have raised fears of disruption to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. The narrow waterbody connects the Gulf to the Arabian Sea. About 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption traverses the maritime chokepoint.
On Monday, Bahrain’s state-owned energy company Bapco declared force majeure, Bahrain News Agency reported. Force majeure is a contract provision that exempts companies from fulfilling their obligations because of unforeseen and uncontrollable events such as wars and disasters.
The company said that its operations had been hampered by the conflict and a recent attack on its refinery complex. However, the supply in the local market would not be impacted, it was quoted as saying.
This came less than a week after Qatar’s state-owned petroleum company QatarEnergy, which operates all oil and gas activities in the country, had declared force majeure on Wednesday.
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The conflict in West Asia began after Israel and the United States launched an attack to “degrade the capabilities” of the Iranian government. Tehran retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region, and targeting major cities in other Gulf countries and some ships.
The joint attacks by Israel and the US on Iran came amid tensions between the three countries over Tehran’s nuclear programme. Washington acts as a guarantor of Israel’s security. Israel has been claiming that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could alter the regional security balance.
Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.
The US had on Thursday granted Indian refiners a 30-day waiver to buy Russian oil stranded at sea. The country’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the decision was a short-term measure to keep oil supplies flowing globally.
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