New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should accelerate energy diversification and deepen ties with reliable partners, including India, after the West Asia crisis exposed vulnerabilities in supply chains and energy security, a report said.

According to a report by Malaysian media outlet Bernama, Associate Professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Rahul Mishra, said ASEAN countries should strengthen engagement with middle and emerging powers in the Indo-Pacific.

He suggested closer collaboration with countries such as Japan, Australia, India, Turkey and the European Union, which are increasingly emerging as key energy partners for Southeast Asia.

Mishra noted that ASEAN may already be moving in this direction, citing possible outcomes from recent meetings in the Philippines, including the ASEAN summit scheduled later this year.

The report highlighted that global energy shocks have disproportionately impacted smaller Southeast Asian economies, underscoring the need to collaborate with more reliable and resilient partners for long-term energy security.

“We are witnessing that smaller economies like Thailand and the Philippines are already bearing the brunt. Malaysia, comparatively, is less affected due to some degree of energy self-sufficiency,” said Mishra, who is also a Senior Research Fellow at Thammasat University in Thailand.

The West Asia conflict, triggered by US-Israel strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks, disrupted energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, a key global transit route.

Notably, another report warned that global oil inventories that can be tapped without disrupting supply chains could be exhausted within three weeks, raising the risk of operational stress in markets by mid-June. It noted that while global oil inventories stood at 8.4 billion barrels in early 2026, only a limited portion is readily usable without straining supply systems.

–IANS

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