Strategies of Asian oil-importing countries

Various strategies are used by oil-importing countries to reduce their economic dependence on imported oil: national oil production, energy conservation and the change of economic structures from high energy intensity sectors to low ones. In this article, the roles of these different strategies have been identified for 10 selected oil-importing countries in Asia: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, R.O Korea, and Taiwan. The results show that most of the selected countries (although Hong Kong and Taiwan are independent economic entities, for simplicity, we refer to them as countries) have succeeded in reducing their national economy dependence on imported oil since 1973. Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and India are among the most successful countries, with more than 40% reduction in their economic dependence on imported oil.