The 46th ASCOPE Council Meeting hosted by PT Pertamina in coordination with ASCOPE Secretariat was held virtually on 25th October 2021 for the first time since ASCOPE’s establishment in 1975.

With the theme “Recover Faster, Grow Stronger”, the 46th ASCOPE Council Meeting this year has become a remarkable platform for sharing among Council Members on their leadership in navigating the challenges in oil & gas industry in global energy transition and Covid-19 pandemic.

Opening the 46th ASCOPE Council Meeting, Mrs. Nicke Widyawati, President Director & CEO of PT Pertamina (Persero) delivered welcome remarks, underlining the importance of ASCOPE as a regional organization platform to foster collaboration among energy companies in the South East Asia region, particularly, to navigate the current dynamics coming from COVID-19 pandemic and energy transition push.

The past two years have been challenging for oil and gas companies in ASEAN under Covid-19 pandemic as seen in operational difficulties, companies downsizing, expenditure budget cut and investment portfolio adjustment. Moreover, the energy landscape has transformed drastically with growing concerns on climate changes, thus imposing additional pressure on fossil fuel in the region. As such, the role of natural gas needs to be repositioned to play the key role in advancing the low-carbon energy transition. So far, ASCOPE’s Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline (TAGP) Project has connected six (6) ASEAN Member States through 13 interconnection bilateral pipelines with a total length of 3,631 km and nine (9) LNG regasification terminals (RGT) with a combined total capacity of 38.75 MTPA.

At the CEO Strategic Section, valuable practices and experiences as well as initiatives to translate the challenges into opportunities have been exchanged among ASCOPE Council Members. With ASCOPE Members remaining steadfast in responding to the challenges, it is affirmative that ASCOPE Members will continue to solidify and “Recover Faster, Grow Stronger”.

The meeting honourably welcomed Mr. Keisuke Sadamori, Director of Energy Markets and Security from International Energy Agency (IEA) to share updates on global energy transition. Under the context of global carbon dioxide emissions set for their biggest annual increase in history, on course to rise by 1.5 billion tonnes in 2021, the upside seen by IEA is that clean energy spend by oil and gas companies globally is starting to pick up with share of capital investment projected to rise to 4% as of May, 2021. In recognition of the significance, ASCOPE Council Members had insighful discussion on energy transition towards enhanced security and sustainability.

To move ASCOPE forward, ASCOPE Secretary- In- Charge Dr. Tran Hong Nam and Task Forces’ Chairpersons reported on work progress in 2021 and planned activites for 2022 in line with Key Performance Indicators. Under Covid-19 pandemic throughout the year, ASCOPE Council Members expressed high appreciation for the intensified effort and looked forward to ASCOPE Secretariat and Task Forces’ continued contributions and Country Coordinators’ extensive collaboration towards ASCOPE’s sustainable and outcome - based development.

Photo: Group Photo of the 46th ASCOPE Council Meeting

Source: ASCOPE.ORG