EIA - South Africa is one of the world’s leading emitters of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2), ranking fifteenth globally in 2015 and accounting for more than any other country in Africa. In an effort to reduce CO2 emissions, South Africa is planning to diversify its energy portfolio, replacing coal with lower CO2-emitting fuels such as natural gas and renewable sources. The country’s Intended National Determined Contribution, submitted as part of the Paris Agreement, plans for CO2 emissions to peak by 2025, remain flat for a decade, and begin to decline around 2035.

OGJ - Phase II production from Weizhou 12-2 oil field has been brought on stream, CNOOC Ltd. said of its project in Beibu Gulf in the South China Sea.

Vietnam’s state television said Chinese President Xi Jinping had told Vietnam’s General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong he wanted to work with Southeast Asian nations on a code of conduct in the sea. China’s Xinhua news agency said China and Vietnam had agreed to properly handle maritime issues and strive to maintain peace and stability.

The South China Sea is a major route for liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade, and in 2016, almost 40% of global LNG trade, or about 4.7 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), passed through the South China Sea.

Access to modern energy is incomplete. With a total population of nearly 640 million, an estimated 65 million people remain without electricity and 250 million are reliant on solid biomass as a cooking fuel. Investment in upstream oil and gas has been hit by lower prices since 2014 and the region faces a dwindling position as a gas exporter, and a rising dependency on imported oil.

IMF - When we think about Asia’s economic future, we know that this future is being built on strong foundations—on the richness and diversity of its cultures, on the incredible energy and ingenuity of the people who have changed the world by transforming their own economies. China and India have been driving the greatest poverty reduction in human history by creating the world’s largest middle classes. In a single generation, Vietnam has moved from being one of the world’s poorest nations to being a middle-income country.

Vietnam has extended an Indian oil concession in the South China Sea and begun drilling in another area it disputes with China in moves that could heighten tensions over who owns what in the vital maritime region.

China's attempt to test marine natural gas hydrates, a future energy source, has turned out to be a success, making it the first country to secure continuous and stable gas supply in marine gas hydrate exploitation, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources.

China claims almost all of a large stretch of sea between Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam and Japan. The trouble is, between them, these seven other states all do too.

Iran announced it has started gas recovery from phase 20 development of the supergiant South Pars gas field (SP20) on Sunday.