Emergency extinguisher full or empty? Crunch time for Asean’s fuel pact

NOT long ago, the big story in South-east Asia’s cross-border energy space was on Singapore’s plan to import clean power from the region, including Cambodia via subsea cables. That is no longer the case.

As the Middle East crisis upends global energy markets, Cambodia is now scrambling for fuel from Malaysia and Singapore while supply tightens and export curbs bite.

This is precisely the kind of situation the Asean Petroleum Security Agreement (Apsa) was designed to address. Yet, there has been little public indication that the mechanism is being invoked – a telling detail in itself.