I would like to congratulate Ambassador Sudhir T. Devare for his energy and enterprise in organizing the Conference on Energy in the Bay of Bengal on 28–29 September 2006 at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. I would also like to thank my colleague, Mr Mark Hong, Energy Programme Coordinator, for his ideas and input into the process of assisting to conceptualize the conference and publishing the book.

It is only recently that people have begun to realize the many linkages between the countries surrounding the Bay of Bengal, which are usually perceived as merely the foyer to the vital Straits of Malacca. This dismissive view began to change when major oil discoveries were made onshore as well as offshore along the littoral states. Gradually, energy experts realized that this region could be one of the last great oil and gas provinces left relatively unexplored.

Thus this book serves as a useful eye-opener to the great energy potential of this region, even as oil and gas demand are ever increasing. In addition, the Bay occupies a strategic position squarely across the energy SLOC's connecting the Middle East and African energy producers with the great Asian markets in Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. China and others have realized the vulnerability of the choke-points along the Malacca Straits and have devised various by-passes, such as pipelines from Myanmar to Yunnan and across northern Malaya.

This book thus discusses these strategic implications as well as the various national energy potential of the littoral states, the potential for regional cooperation. In doing so, the chapter writers shed light on a little-studied region, and thus add to our store of knowledge and understanding. ISEAS has launched an ISEAS Energy Series of books devoted to building knowledge on Southeast Asian and Asian energy issues. We hope that this book, the third in the series, will help to add to international understanding of a vital resource.