Natural Gas Is Set To Drive Malaysia’s Energy Transition

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 (Bernama) – Malaysian Gas Association (MGA) lauds the positioning of natural as a pivotal fuel in the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) launched by YAB Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia, on 29 August 2023.

Today, natural gas is the single largest fuel in the total primary energy mix constituting 43% and is set to remain the single largest primary energy at 56% in 2050 as indicated in the NETR. Supplying 57 Mtoe in 2050, natural gas is followed by renewables that include solar, hydro and bioenergy, which collectively contribute 23% of TPES in 2050 from a mere 4% in 2023.

“MGA is delighted that in NETR, natural gas will remain significant in Malaysia’s energy mix and will be pivotal in driving the energy transition.  We believe that natural gas has the right characteristics to facilitate development in all the transition levers.” Abdul Aziz Othman, President of Malaysian Gas Association (MGA) commented.

Natural gas is an important cross-cutting enabler necessary to drive all six energy transition levers in NETR. For example, for the Energy Efficiency lever, cogeneration with natural gas as fuel is a practical solution to increase thermal efficiency. For the Renewable Energy (RE) lever, power generation plants fueled by natural gas compensate for the intermittency of RE by stabilising the electricity grid. In the Hydrogen lever, blue hydrogen produced from natural gas complements green hydrogen in ensuring a sufficient supply of hydrogen. For the Bioenergy lever, biogas can utilise the existing natural gas pipelines for efficient delivery. For the Green Mobility lever, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a much cleaner and less polluting solution for long-haul heavy transport when compared to diesel. The Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) lever will make natural gas even cleaner with the removal of CO2 at both the production end and the combustion or consumer end.

“The International Gas Union (IGU) is encouraged that Malaysia is taking a pragmatic and realistic approach towards energy transition. Its National Energy Transition Roadmap recognised the importance of natural gas, a fuel necessary for an orderly energy transition that ensures energy security and reliability, whilst at the same time being an affordable and cleanest hydrocarbon that is vital to drive economic growth of developing nations.” said Li Yalan, President of the International Gas Union (IGU).

“Being indigenous to Malaysia, natural gas plays an important role in driving our country’s socio-economic development as proven in the past and present.  NETR has identified the Natural Gas Roadmap (NGR) as a cross-cutting policy enabler to expedite Malaysia’s energy transition journey. We look forward to the release of the NGR which is expected to ensure the sustainability of natural gas and the Malaysian gas industry as a whole. The industry is expected to contribute nearly RM400 billion to public finances over the next decade.  This will definitely contribute positively towards achieving the aspirations of the Ekonomi Madani blueprint.” Abdul Aziz added.