February 2017

6 APAC / February 2017 NEWS , This follows a period of downward revi- sions to the economic growth forecasts and volatility in financial and commodities markets glob- ally, impacted by the slowdown from China and oil prices slump over a two-year period. The Conference of Parties (COP22) discussions in Mar- rakech were clouded by Trump’s threat to pull the US out of the COP21 Paris climate change ac- cord. While it may be difficult for the US to unilaterally scuttle the accord, since most of the world countries have affirmed their commitment to de-carbonisa- tion, the challenge lies in actu- ally meeting the US$100 billion/ year financial commitments and also agreement on the transpar- ency of future climate monitoring. However, economics will drive the substantial investments in clean and green technologies, led by China and India. “We expect 2017 to be a transi- tion year for long term changes, globally. With the rising protec- tionism across the world, issue of energy security will once again come to the fore in Asia Pacific. This will accelerate adoption of clean technologies which can be harnessed locally and those that are less impacted by global policy & price fluctuations”, noted Ravi Krishnaswamy, Vice President, Energy & Environment, Asia Pa- cific, Frost & Sullivan. Frost & Sullivan discusses key trends for 2017 across the energy and environment sectors includ- ing oil & gas, power, buildings and water, in Asia Pacific. Global Oil Industry will be- gin a Slow Recovery With oil prices expected to aver- age about US$55 per barrel in 2017, the focus will be on oper- ational excellence as industry players try to survive the tight upstream market. However, in- terest in downstream sector will continue to be strong with a slew of refinery and petrochemical in- vestments planned across devel- oping Asia including China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam Rise of LNG for Power Gen- eration, even as Coal will see Decline in Capacity Ad- dition during 2017 The global glut in LNG supply, aided by the possible large scale exports from the USA, has provid- Asia Pacific Will Assume Global Leadership for Clean Energy in 2017 K Despite the global uncertainty brought about by recent events such as Brexit and policy direction of the incoming Trump administration, the outlook for energy and environment markets in 2017 is largely viewed to be balanced with a slight positive inclination according to Frost & Sullivan.