These Asian Nations Have Returned to Coal for Energy

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Disruptions of oil and natural gas shipments in the Strait of Hormuz are pushing Asian governments to preserve and expand coal capacity as strategic insurance.

In my previous piece written last November, I argued that coal would remain a transition fuel for much of Emerging Asia by the logic of the Four As: availability, affordability, accessibility, and acceptability. That argument rests on structural conditions: the region’s coal reserves, the cost gap between coal and alternatives, and the political durability of an energy source that supports jobs and grid reliability across dozens of developing economies. The Russian invasion of Ukraineprovided a new live stress test of that thesis, as energy shortages hit Asian countries in 2021 and 2022. Events since have added to the evidence.

The Strait of Hormuz Chokepoint and Its Consequences

The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly 20 percent of global oil consumption, 27 percent of seaborne oil trade, and 20 percent of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade. Some 89 percent of the crude oil that transits the strait is destined for Asian markets, and China alone absorbs 37.7 percent of total Hormuz crude flows, the largest share of any single nation.On the LNG side, 83 percent of Hormuz LNG flows to Asia, and Qatar, which declared force majeure on all its export contracts after attacks on........

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