The Working Group members of the study on "Sustainable Development of Natural Gas Market in the EAS Region" met on 11 November 2014 at the ERIA office in Jakarta to discuss the scope of the study to be done for the second year of the project after the successful completion of year 1 wherein the demand and supply gap situation of natural gas in EAS had been analysed.

The second year study aims to look thoroughly into investment for gas infrastructure, possible LNG hub in Asia, and flexibility of the LNG market, including the spot LNG trades. In this connection, Dr. Tetsuo Morikawa, Manager of Gas group of IEEJ, highlighted some factors preventing market flexibility such as block booking, oil indexation and destination clause. The relaxation of these factors will be fundamental to the future Asian gas market.

During the meeting, Mr. Victorino S. Bala, Secretary-in-Charge of ASCOPE, presented his view on the sustainable development of the natural gas market in EAS by analysing the trends that serve as game changer of gas consumption and production and that could help facilitate the creation of the future Asia Gas Market. Mr. Shigeru Kimura, Special Advisor to the Executive Director of ERIA on Energy Affairs, also shared his view on the need for the EAS region to share investment plans towards the development of natural gas in the region for the purpose of having a better analysis of the study. The study will provide policy recommendations to facilitate the development of a sustainable natural gas market in the EAS region in the foreseeable future.