Japan's Amari says energy conservation key to economic growth

Riyadh (Platts)--2May2007

Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Akira Amari, Wednesday
urged oil producers and consumers to improve energy efficiency and energy
conservation to sustain economic growth in Asia and the rest of the world.
Speaking at the opening session of the Second Asian Roundtable Meeting in
Riyadh, Amari said: "As we have limited fossil fuel reserves, it would be
extremely important not only for consuming countries but also producing
countries to improve energy conservation to sustain economic growth in Asia as
well as in the rest of the world."
Amari also said it was important to make necessary investments in the
upstream and downstream sectors as well as establishing transparency in the
oil and gas markets. These were "keys to maintaining stable supply" in the
world.
Amari has previously called on consuming countries to drop fuel subsidies
and allow market forces to determine domestic oil prices, a move he has said
would encourage energy conservation as well.
China and India, Asia's fastest growing economic giants, subsidize
domestic fuel prices, at a cost to their state-owned refining and marketing
companies. Some market watchers argue that the two countries' appetite for
energy would not grow at current high rates if consumers paid international
prices.
Amari is due to address the afternoon session in a presentation that his
aides said would focus on ways to improve relations within the Asian continent
as well as the importance of coordinating efforts to establish a strategic oil
stockpile to cope with emergencies.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week offer Saudi Arabian King
Abdullah use of its oil storage facilities in Okinawa in southwestern Japan in
return for priority access in the event of an emergency.