Day Three of Sea Asia, the region's leading conference and exhibition for the shipping and maritime industries, showed no signs of slowing down on the morning of its final day. The conference was led by lively and entertaining sessions on the gas markets and the latest shipyard technology.
In particular, the game-changing impact of shale gas on the global energy market and the supply of LNG vessels dominated a high-powered gas transportation session.
Session Chairman Yudhishthir Khatau, President of BIMCO, Chairman and Managing Director of Varun Shipping Ltd, noted that shale gas will have a significant impact on energy demand and the pattern of development in countries such as China and India.
He suggested countries such as China, attempting to boost their adoption of shale gas, need to build infrastructure to cope with cracking mechanisms used to produce the gas first.
"I have no doubt that China has the capacity to build this infrastructure quickly, and we could eventually see a scenario in which China becomes energy self-sufficient due to the shale gas phenomenon," he said.
Carsten Ostenfeldt, Chief Executive Officer of session sponsor Thome Ship Management, told delegates that "shale gas is a game changer – even within the context of the technological challenges shale gas presents. It has the capacity to completely change world energy consumption patterns," he said.
Abhishek Pandey, Regional Head, South and South East Asia, Shipping Finance, of Standard Chartered Bank, gave a note of caution on the shale gas phenomenon.
He said: "The development of the technology to produce shale is capital intensive and not every country with shale gas reserves has this technology. It can be bought of course, but that takes time and investment.
"Another factor is the environmental aspect – how many countries around the world have regulatory regimes which currently encourage this kind of technological development?"
Around 100 delegates at the transportation session also heard about the impact of shale gas on the LNG fleet. There was a consensus that vessel ordering could be downscaled if countries get to grips with utilising their onshore domestic shale gas deposits.
Sea Asia, which articulates the voice of the Asian maritime communities, has captured the imagination of the global shipping community. It was officially opened on Tuesday 9 April by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
Sea Asia 2013 occupies almost 17,000 sqm of gross space at Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre in an exhibition of 385 maritime businesses from 36 countries. There are country pavilions from China, Holland, Japan, Korea, Norway, Panama, Qatar, Singapore and the UK.