Qn: How would Asia and Singapore be affected by the rising oil prices?Why
is the overall impact on Singapore a muted one compared to the oil
shock episodes? 

This question would require some knowledge in FX,economic fundamentals
and trade balances of the Asian countries, including Singapore, Korea,
Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China and the other major economies.
I'm preparing a background presentation for a group of economists who
are experts in this areas, so would need an economics-slant to it.
Your answer should include an analysis of the effects on different
Asian countries, including China, and the reasons for their continued
economic growth despite the oil prices. Any reasons due to exchange
rates shifts, US?government policy or OPEC could be considered.

Crudely put Oil is used for two purposes petrol (in US speak gas) and
for genererating electricity
- Ok we are ignoring plastics - but there is a lot to be said for simplification

Singapore is a small place, and since the advent of the MRT (subway)
the need for petrol is not that great, it does require a fair amount
of electricity, to run the MRT and air conditioning - but that is a
pretty small part of overall expenditure.

China is the opposite, it is a huge place, industrialising incredibly
fast, and therefore requiring huge quantities of oil to convert into
electricity to run the new factories - also quite a lot of petrol
(gas) to run the newly purchased autos that are the ultimate status
symbol.

The other countries you mentioned are inbetween those two extremes,
although I'm curious that you ommitted India from the list.

The answer is 'income elasticity of demand' - basically how much would
it affect you if Coca Cola doubled in price ?
- not a lot I guess - even if you were addicted to it

Incidentally Indonesia is a nice little producer of oil.

Oil is not really sold at the 'headline' prices 
- the Spot Market is just speculators
- recent market changes have made speculators shout louder
- but nobody cares as it is in the interest of most people to keep the price high

Only idiots buy at spot rates - real transactions are seriously long term
- would you change your electricity provider daily ?
- not if you were running a fctory with fixed product prices

Mostly, I think that this is a con, possibly quite sensible, as the
/expectation/ of high prices will stimulate exploration.
It will also choke off a little frivoulous consumption

The problem with oil is not the price - it is the availability
- economics is not very good at dealing with Chaos - like 1974

In the year 2003, Singapore consumed 33.9 MMT of Crude Oil and 4.8
MMTOE of Natural Gas (Total 38.7 MMTOE). In the year 2004, these
figures increased to 38.1 and 7 respectively (Total 45.1 MMTOE, growth
of 18.4%). The entire energy is from Hydrocarbons as the other forms
of energy namely Coal, Hydel and Nuclear contribute to nothing. The
GDP of Singapore is 120.9 Billion USD in the year 2004. 2/3rds of the
GDP is contributed by the services sector and the remaining by the
manufacturing sector. Considering these aspects, one can assume that
the price rise of crude oil will not have substantial impact on
Singapore's economy which will continue to grow. However, it will
certainly depend on the economies on which it depends. If those
economies grow, Singapore will grow. These guys are very careful in
the sense that they complain about high oil prices and say that they
may not grow much but perform extremely well. A little unlike our
American friends.

China's energy requirements are diverse. In 2003, China consumed 266.4
MMT of Crude Oil, 29.5 MMTOE of NG, 834.7 MMTOE of Coal, 9.9 MMTOE of
Nuclear energy and 63.7 MMTOE of Hydel energy (Total of 1,204.2
MMTOE). These figures went upto 308.6, 35.1, 956.9, 11.3 and 74.2 in
the year 2004 (Total of 1,386.2 MMTOE, a growth of 15.1%). The GDP is
7,262 Billion USD in the year 2004, next only to USA. Manufacturing
contributes to over 40% of the GDP for China. The petroleum price rise
is expected to marginally increase the prices of goods and in the
absence of any other alternatives, the importers will have to pay the
additional cost. China's growth figures are hidden and the actual
growth is perhaps lot higher than the announced growth figures. Oil or
no oil, China will grow and swamp the world with its cheap goods to
the detriment of other economies like USA, Japan, Germany and France.
Wars are not fought these days with weapons but they are fought in the
area of trade.