Asia’s Energy Resources: Minerals, Fuels and Waterpower (with map)

Coal:

World’s coal reserves are quite large, estimated at 4.5 trillion metric tons, and probably will last a long time as we in­creasingly utilize newer forms of energy. Asia’s share of reserves is about one-eighth of the world, which is more than adequate for its current needs. The distribution of the fields is, however, uneven. China, Rus­sia and the Central Asian republics contain the largest reserves, while those of India, Indonesia, North Korea, Taiwan and Ja­pan are more modest.

China and India are the major produc­ers. China contributes 23-24 percent of the world’s production and its coal is of high- grade quality. The largest fields are in Shanxi, Shensi, Ssuchuan and Shandong provinces. Most of the production is util­ized in heavy metallurgical industry in the industrial plants in the northeast region (Fushun, Anshan and Liaoning) and in Central Anhwei area, primarily north of the Chang Jiang River, although the coun­try’s growing industry is increasingly coal in other industrial areas as well.

The former USSR was the world’s third largest producer, after China and the United States. Its known reserves and pro­duction fields lie in Siberia, the Urals, the Soviet Far East and the Central Asian repub­lics. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan contain fair amounts the largest producer is the Karaganda field in Kazakhstan. Transcaucasia has an abun­dant reserve of coal and hydrocarbons and is an important producer.

India is Asia’s third largest coal pro­ducer. Major mining areas are in the northeastern part of the Deccan Plateau (Chota Nagpur region) close to the indus­trial regions of South Bihar and Kolkata. Indian coal is generally of low-grade. Al­though the domestic demand is large, a part of the production is exported to Ja­pan.

Petroleum and Natural Gas:

Two- thirds of the world’s proven oil and natu­ral gas reserves lie in Asia. This proportion is likely to go up as new fields are discov­ered, particularly on islands bordering East Asia, and island-chains in Southeast Asia, many of which have geologic formations that indicate good prospects of petroleum reserves.

Several of the fields explored dur­ing the last thirty years or so have already begun to yield oil, e.g., in Sumatra, Ka­limantan, Java, and islands in South China Sea. The continent’s largest known re­serves he in Southwest Asia, particularly in the area bordering the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia alone claims nearly one-quarter of the world’s total proven reserves. Signifi­cant amounts also exist in Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates.

In East Asia, China’s reserves are still being explored; there are several areas which have bright prospects. The known proven reserves of the Indian subcontinent are considerably small. The Philippines has little prospects and Japan, North Korea, and South Korea virtually none. In South­east Asia, Vietnam have some off-shore prospects.

Russia and the Central Asian repub­lics have large reserves. In the late 1980s the USSR overtook the countries of South­west Asia in the production of oil and natural gas, although in known reserves. Southwest Asia retains a commanding lead.

Asia produces a little over one-third of the world’s crude oil. Saudi Arabia alone contributes one-quarter of Asia’s produc­tion; Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates a little less than the remain­ing half, leaving the rest of Asian nations collectively to share one-quarter of the Asian total.

During the Gulf War in 1991, production suffered greatly particularly that of Iraq and Kuwait. During the 1970s and 1980s, western nations had started to conserve oil by reducing mileage driven, encouraging public transportation, and by promoting the development of smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Since oil consumption in the indus­trial, automobile-oriented countries had dramatically increased since WW II, the threat of an embargo by the OPEC (Or­ganization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) during the 1970s had only heightened the concern for, and interests in Southwest Asian oil. In the absence of domestic reserves in the European nations and Japan, and the shrinking reserves in the U.S.A. (which was the world’s leader in oil production before the 1950s and now remains its leading consumer), the in­dustrialized nations have little recourse but to turn to the oil producing nations, par­ticularly the Persian Gulf countries.

In a dollar amount, the world’s large commodity flow is the movement of oil from the Persian Gulf to Europe and Japan. Thus, the Persian Gulf nations have assumed an unprecedented geopolitical significance as the major supplier of oil to the industrial nations.

China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Central Asian republics of Turk­menistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan are the other major Asian oil producers. China’s production rose substantially during the late 1980s and 1990s and currently stands at 5 percent of the world’s produc­tion. The major fields are in the provinces of Ssuchuan, Kansu, Xinjiang, and in the northeastern provinces. Recently, oil com­panies from the U.S. and the West European countries have jointly con­tracted with the Chinese government to explore and expedite the development of oil in the offshore waters of East and South China Seas.

The fields of Transcancasia particu­larly of Azerbaijan and Georgia are rich and he in a belt between the Caspian and Black Sea, and are important producers. The fields of Turkmenistan are on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea and that of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan along the shores of Aral Sea. There exist several un­tapped reserves of oil and natural gas in several other regions in Central Asia as well.

Indonesia’s major fields are located in the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan (for­merly Borneo) and Java. The country utilizes most of its output, and has now be­gun to export some crude oil and crude-oil products. Malaysia’s production is still very small by world comparisons. Brunei, a small British protectorate, is a regionally important producer, and an exporter. Pro­duction, by world standards, is small but enough to raise Brunei’s per capita income to the level of prosperous industrialized nations.

Related to the production of oil is the extraction of natural gas because the two usually share the same geologic structures. Level of production varies with the capac­ity of individual nations to extract, pipe and deliver the natural gas to the demand areas. Asia accounts for nearly thirty per­cent of the world’s total reserves, but production is only ten percent, indicating the variable nature of demand-supply and cost of transportation over-views. Russia, the United States, and the European na­tions are the main producers.

Asia’s major fields of natural gas he close to the oil fields. The Persian Gulf countries produce nearly 6 percent of the world’s total. Another 7 percent is contrib­uted by the remaining Asian nations. The production is steadily improving in South­east Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam) with the technological assis­tance provided by the West.

Uranium:

Asia’s reserves of this impor­tant mineral critical to the generation of nuclear energy for commercial and defense needs, is small and limited mostly to China and India. The production of nuclear en­ergy and its consumption is largely in the hands of a comparatively few industrial­ized countries such as the U.S.A., Russia, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Australia.

Among Asian nations, Japan is the largest consumer, which utilizes about 10 percent of all the nuclear energy produced in the world. Besides Japan, a few other Asian nations are now engaged in the production of nuclear energy such as China, Israel, In­dia, Pakistan, North Korea and South Korea. Among these, China and India have already been able to develop technology capable of producing nuclear weapons while North Korea, Pakistan, and Israel are probably close to doing so.

Nuclear proliferation has become a major issue with the West, even as several nations in Asia are developing nuclear en­ergy. Japan and the newly industrialized countries (NICs) now face a crucial chal­lenge: How to bridge the gap between the cheap but declining conventional resources of oil, gas, and coal, and the yet to come (mostly experimental and possibly expen­sive) energy sources of the future such as nuclear, solar or geothermal? Japan’s de­pendence on imported oil for as much as 90 percent of its total energy needs illus­trates this dilemma which many of the developing nations in Asia will have to face.

Although Asia’s resources of coal are abundant; these are located chiefly in China and India, and are becoming increas­ingly of lesser importance as new, clean and efficient sources of energy are being developed. As we have already noticed, Ural oil as a source of energy is limited. Some depressing prognosticators already remind us that if the world’s proven oil re­serves (most of which he in Asia) might run dry in 40 years at world’s current rates of consumption.

Metallic Minerals:

Iron Ore:

Iron-ore reserves of the world are very extensive, estimated to be over 65 trillion metric tons, of which less than 1 percent is annually mined. On ac­count of the increasing use of plastics, and recycling of scrap metals, the world’s sup­ply of this useful metal is going to last for a long time. Asia’s reserves amount to nearly one-eighth of the worlds. Nearly all Asian nations contain some deposits of the ore; China and India contain most of it. South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, and Turkey have also fairly large deposits, although production in these countries is limited.

China and India, together, account for one-fifth of the world’s annual output. China’s reserves are widely distributed, and contain varying grades of ore. Major mining, smelting and iron manufacturing centers are located in the northeast (Anshan, Fushun); near Beijing; area west of Shanghai; in Central Changjiang basin near Wuhan; in Inner Mongolia, north of Baotou; and in the island of Hainan off the southern coast. Most of China’s manufac­turing regions are developed close to these coal fields.

In India, fields are located in the Chota Nagpur Plateau in southern Bihar and Orissa, in Andhra Pradesh, and in several areas of southern and western Deccan Pla­teau (near Goa and Kerala). Generally speaking, larger fields exist in close prox­imity of the coal fields and iron and steel manufacturing centers. India’s iron-ore is of high grade (metal content). Some of it is exported (principally to Japan) but most of it is consumed domestically.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey produce modest amounts, most of which is exported. Pakistan and Vietnam produce only limited quantities. In Central Asia, major fields lie in north Kazakhstan, east of Aral Sea. With the exception of China which utilizes nearly all of its production. Nearly all the Asian nations export the mined ore to Japan and Europe. Japan is the world’s biggest importer, consuming nearly one-third of the world’s total im­ports. Its principal suppliers are Australia, India, Brazil, South Africa, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Ferro Alloy Metals:

With the exception of manganese, tungsten, chromite and vanadium, Asia’s reserves of ferroalloys are limited, but the production is fairly exten­sive amounting to almost one-half of the world’s tungsten, one-eighth of manganese, and one-sixth of the world’s chromite. China, South Korea, Mongolia, North Ko­rea, Myanmar, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan are the principal producers of tungsten. Turkey, India and the Philippines are the major chromite producers. China and In­dia are important producers of manganese.

Nonferrous Metals:

Reserves of tin and bauxite are abundant in Asia, while those of copper are moderate. Four Asian countries: Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and China account for nearly one-half of the world’s tin production. The reserves of bauxite are fairly large, about 12 percent of the world. India, China, the Philippines, and Malaysia are the chief producers but production is limited (about 6 percent of the world’s total output).

Reserves and productions of copper both range between 9-11 percent of the world. China, the Phil­ippines and Kazakhstan are the major producers. Turkey, Israel, India, and North Korea produce modest amounts. It may be pointed out that, in general, China is particularly rich in most of the nonfer­rous base metals such as mercury, magnesite, antimony, lead and zinc.

Asia’s production of zinc is about 15 percent of the world’s production; of lead 12-13 per­cent; and of nickel 8-9 percent. China and North Korea are the chief producers of lead; China, Japan and North Korea of zinc; and Indonesia, China and the Philip­pines of nickel. The Transcaucasia area is also rich in several nonferrous minerals.

Precious Metals:

Traditionally, gold was obtained mainly from the alluvial stream deposits and many Asian countries (Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, and China) were its important producers. The current production is insignificant like other precious metals such as silver and platinum. South Africa, Russia, U.S.A., Canada and China are the world’s major producers. China and the Philippines are Asia’s major gold producers. Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan and Tajikis­tan also have some gold ore reserves. Asia’s production of silver and platinum is negli­gible. Japan is the only country of some consequence that produces silver (about 2 percent of the world’s production).

Nonmetallic Minerals:

Reserves of as­bestos, gypsum, mica, phosphates, rock salt and sulphur are relatively large. Russia and India are the principal producers of mica; China, Jordan and Israel of rock phosphates; Israel of potash and Iraq of sul­phur.

Energy Resources: Waterpower:

A large portion of Asia’s surface is blessed with circumstances favorable for the development of waterpower and for ir­rigation in terms of the nature of its terrain, volume of water in rivers, exist­ence of waterfalls, etc. Nearly a quarter of the world’s potential is estimated to exist in the continent, but only one-fifth of the world’s total capacity is developed, and thus a good deal remains undeveloped. Al­though water resources of China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam are potentially abundant, only Japan has been able to fully exploit its waterpower resources.

Japan accounts for about 6 percent of the entire world’s, and a little less than one-half of Asia’s total de­veloped capacity of waterpower. Potentials in Russia are enormous, but exist primar­ily in Siberia, where rivers have an excellent hydroelectric potential, but ex­treme cold, low winter levels and inaccessibility hinder the exploitation. (Russia is considered a European nation for this analysis. It ranks below the United States and Canada as a producer of hydro- electricity in the world.)

China leads in potential waterpower resources in Asia. With its extensive river network, and large area of mountainous terrain, China leads in potentials of water- power resources in Asia, but it has not yet fully tapped its vast potential. It has con­centrated chiefly on thermal sources, and more recently to a smaller extent on nu­clear sources for the development of energy, particularly on account of the easy availability of coal of which it has enor­mous supplies.

Most of its hydroelectric development has taken place in the south­ern region (i.e., south of the Qin Ling Mountains) where coal supplies are poor, but the demand for energy is slowly on the increase. Sites in North China, in the basin of river Chang Jiang are expensive to oper­ate.

Development has taken place near Chang and the industrialized regions lie along the coast, especially around Guang­zhou (Canton) and Hong Kong, and the lower Chang Jiang basin around Shanghai. Northeast China is rich in coal and oil and Central China has vast reserve of coal.

Therefore, neither the hydro development nor the conditions suitable for energy pro­duction exist in these regions. In the lower Huangho basin, where the consumption of electricity is greatest, the topography is flat, the river flow given to seasonal and er­ratic fluctuations and flooding; and hydro development is much below the capacity.

In the Indian subcontinent several ar­eas are well-endowed for the development of hydropower. A broad belt along the Hi­malaya in Pakistan, India and Nepal; the slopes of the Western Ghats in India; and the central mountainous region in Sri Lanka are particularly suitable but devel­opment is hampered by the seasonal fluctuations in rainfall.

In India, the West­ern Ghats which slope abruptly to the western coastal plain permit high water­falls, but contain little water during winter. Rivers on the eastern part of the Deccan Plateau also dry up in winters, and the dam construction in hard rock’s of the plateau present additional problems. In the Himalayan region on the other hand, where terrain, rainfall and water storage conditions are suitable, problems of inac­cessibility and distance from demand areas have caused the hydropower development to lag.

Hydropower development, therefore, has taken place at sites where the Himala­yan Rivers enter the Indo-Gangetic Plains and their intersection, and a few sites on the eastern slopes of the Deccan Plateau.

The other noteworthy region where hy­droelectric development has taken place is the D.V.C. (Damodar Valley Corporation) region, which is a multipurpose project (besides electricity generation, river waters are harnessed for irrigation, and river transport purposes) modeled after the Ten­nessee Valley Authority of the United States. The DVC region is located close to the mineral and industrial region of South Bihar and Kolkata which utilize its electric power.

Nepal has immense potentials for hydroelectric development. If developed and utilized within the country and ex­ported to India (which is currently the principal market for most of the power generated in Nepal), it could spur the de­velopment of Nepal’s economy.

Waterpower resources of Southeast Asia are abundant particularly in Indone­sia, Myanmar, Vietnam and the Philippines, but not much development has taken place. The Indonesian resources are par­ticularly rich on account of the country’s rugged terrain, plenty of water in the riv­ers, and the existence of waterfalls, but inaccessibility to the densely-forested inte­rior highlands of Maluku, West Irian, Kalimantan and Sumatra pose formidable problems for development.

In the Philip­pines most power plants have traditionally utilized imported oil, but hydroelectric power generation has increased since the construction of several multipurpose dams m Luzon and Mindanao islands in the 1980s. These projects have also benefited flood control and irrigation and reduced dependence on foreign oil.

In East Asia, Japan, North Korea and Taiwan, where water resources are fairly abundant, have been extensively utilized. Japan has made full use of its water re­sources but the demand on power is larger than the supply necessitating the import of oil, and the exploitation of thermal sources.

Most of the country is mountain­ous, and the resources are unevenly distributed. Development is concentrated mostly in the largest and central island of Honshu, and parts of the southern island of Kyushu close to the important indus­trial regions. The best sites are already utilized and further extension is becoming cost prohibitive as compared to that of the imported oil and nuclear energy. Most hy­dro plants operate for a few months of the year because of the seasonal variations of rainfall, and partly due to problems of ade­quate storage.

Energy resources of North Korea con­sist primarily of hydroelectric sources and that of South Korea of coal and imported oil. Hydroelectric power stations were built during the Japanese control of the country along the Yalu River bordering China which now supplies most of North Korea’s energy requirements, but thermal and nuclear energy is being increasingly utilized, partly to offset the deficiency of hydroelectric power during the dry season.

In Taiwan power resources and develop­ment have taken place in its northern and central mountainous regions. During the 1960’s and 70’s dependence for power gen­eration was shifted to the imported oil and nuclear sources as the costs of imported oil escalated. Currently nuclear plants provide nearly one-half of Taiwan’s total power production.

With the exception of Transcaucasia waterpower resources of Southwest Asia are very limited. Only Turkey, Afghani­stan and Iran contain mountainous areas where rainfall and volume of water in the rivers are adequate for the development of hydroelectricity. Iran is rich in oil, and has little dependence on hydropower.

The Pontus and Taurus Mountains girdling the vast interior plateau of Turkey; the Elburz Mountains in Iran, and the mountainous region of northern Afghanistan offer suit­able sites for hydroelectric development. Development is, however, marginal. Af­ghanistan is probably richer in this resource, but the demand for electricity is limited except near the capital.

Hydroelec­tric power has, however, been well developed and intensively used in the southern part of Transcaucasia, particu­larly in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. A number of electric stations in the region feed the several industrial centers.

As an important footnote to the en­ergy production, it may be stated that hydroelectric power as a source of energy production has a limited future although it is widely appreciated because of its envi­ronmentally “clean” character, and its ability to revitalize the economy of remote mountainous regions.

High cost of con­struction and maintenance of plants particularly in the remote, mountainous areas, where most sites are available, and the increased prospects of availability of sources like nuclear and solar power are likely to pose increasing competition to hydro energy in the future.