Thailand's regional energy cooperation - Time for influence

Shahab Sabahi

Energy and Environment for Development - Policy Analysis Research Group

The pressures from economic growth, social structure changes in Thailand besides a shift in regional geopolitical and climate change, force the country to think over innovative solutions for its future energy supply challenges. 

Thailand has a significant contribution and consequently global-scale influence in the food supply chain and also blesses its strategic geographical location. Despite the mentioned strategic potions, Thailand has moderate (if not least) influence in its regional governances and does not fully realize its potential capabilities. It causes that Thailand could not benefit effectively from its potentials, possessions and intrinsic values. 

Perhaps BIMSTEC, a regional cooperation between the South East Asian states   would be a gate of opportunities for Thailand’s influences in the regional governace and consequently benefit the nation as a whole.

BIMSTEC, however, could offer opportunities and also carries threats and it would be Thailand’s choices to pick out the best opportunities and mitigate all threats. Energy and technology cooperation are among important bullets of BIMSTEC’s agenda. To identify, analyse and understand the energy related opportunities and threats and their associated impacts on Thailand’s national security and economy, we launched a study which focuses on BIMSTEC’s energy supply potentials and its interfaces with other regions and regional cooperation. It brings out evidence, arguments and analysis in extended details, based on the available data, and eventually suggests based upon its analysis a set of the long term fittest strategies for Thailand’s engagement in the BIMSTEC energy and technology cooperation. The study suggestions strongly support the idea of “Thailand future as the South – South East Asia energy gate”

One may ask “how would it come when Thailand is not accounted as a major energy resource holder?” Holding vast energy resources does not guarantee a dominance role in energy market (think of Singapore)

The study’s proposed fittest strategies were screened through SWOT analysis. To evaluate and compare the strategies in order to find optimum ones, the study deployed GAME theory and Dynamic optimization.

The analysis assumes, within BIMSTEC, there is ONLY a pure cooperation WITHOUT energy market competition. The BIMSTEC member states cooperate on total regional required quantities when they maximize their aggregated national profits