HANOI, Vietnam, Jun 27 (AP) : Asia's dependence on Middle East oil and gas - and its relatively slow shift to clean energy - make it vulnerable to disruptions in shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic weakness highlighted by the war between Israel and Iran.
Iran sits on the strait, which handles about 20% of shipments of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas, or LNG. Four countries - China, India, Japan and South Korea - account for 75% of those imports.
Japan and South Korea face the highest risk, according to analysis by the research group Zero Carbon Analytics, followed by India and China. All have been slow to scale up use of renewable energy.
In 2023, renewables made up just 9% of South Korea's power mix - well below the 33% average among other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD. In the same year, Japan relied more heavily on fossil fuels than any other country in the Group of Seven, or G7.
A truce in the 12-day Israel-Iran war appeared to be holding, reducing the potential for trouble for now. But experts say the only way to counter lingering uncertainty is to scale back reliance on imported fossil fuels and accelerate Asia's shift to clean, domestic energy sources.
"These are very real risks that countries should be alive to - and should be thinking about in terms of their energy and economic security," said Murray Worthy, a research analyst at Zero Carbon Analytics.
Japan and South Korea are vulnerable
China and India are the biggest buyers of oil and LNG passing through the potential chokepoint at the Strait of Hormuz, but Japan and South Korea are more vulnerable.
Japan depends on imported fossil fuels for 87% of its total energy use and South Korea imports 81%. China relies on only 20% and India 35%, according to Ember, an independent global energy think tank that promotes clean energy.
"When you bring that together - the share of energy coming through the strait and how much oil and gas they rely on - that's where you see Japan really rise to the top in terms of vulnerability," said Worthy.
Three-quarters of Japan's oil imports and more than 70% of South Korea's oil imports - along with a fifth of its LNG - pass through the strait, said Sam Reynolds of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Both countries have focused more on diversifying fossil fuel sources than on shifting to clean energy.
Japan still plans to get 30-40% of its energy from fossil fuels by 2040. It's building new LNG plants and replacing old ones. South Korea plans to get 25.1% of its electricity from LNG by 2030, down from 28% today, and reduce it further to 10.6% by 2038.
To meet their 2050 targets for net-zero carbon emissions, both countries must dramatically ramp up use of solar and wind power. That means adding about 9 gigawatts of solar power each year through 2030, according to the thinktank Agora Energiewende. Japan also needs an extra 5 gigawatts of wind annually, and South Korea about 6 gigawatts.
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