It is time for Asia to co-operate on energy supplies

The countries of north-east Asia now account for more than one-fifth of the world's energy consumption and their energy demand is predicted to shoot up to one-third of the world's total over the next 20 years. The energy-hungry countries of the region, such as South Korea, China and Japan, are now heavily dependent on expensive oil imports from the Middle-East and elsewhere and will become increasingly so given their expanding economic activity. China's recent huge surge in energy demand has turned it from an energy exporter to a net importer.