Energy players hungry for control over green feedstock supply in S-E Asia

THE scourge of corruption is driving oil and gas majors and other energy players to seek direct ownership in South-east Asia’s agribusiness, said Nat Vanitchyangkul, the newly appointed regional chief executive officer of sustainability consultancy ERM.

This is so that they can better secure green feedstock – such as sugarcane or crude palm oil – as they build their biorefinery arsenal in the region. Currently, prices and conditions surrounding smallholders’ production of biomass are largely mediated through intermediaries, leaving the door open to bribery.

“Whenever you have to deal with smallholders, big corporations will not talk to hundreds or thousands of smallholders. They will have to talk to a middleman, and that’s where the corruption (and human rights concerns) come in. So they will have to come up with a new business model, because otherwise they cannot address this challenge,” said Vanitchyangkul, who was appointed to lead ERM’s Asia operations in October 2022.