Laos is an inland country located in the midst of Indochina, surrounded by five countries – China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. The land size of Laos is 237,000 km², nearly the same as the mainland of Japan. It has a population of 5.6 million, 80% of which live on agriculture. Forest is the most important domestic natural resource of Laos today. Annual export sum of lumber and wooden products in 2006 scored 72.5 million US dollars, sharing 7.8% of total export sum of Laos. Forest area of Laos measured 173,000 km² in 1990, 165, 000 km² in 2000, and 161,000 km² in 2005, respectively. The forest area still covers some 70% of the country, but slowly lessening every year owing to cutting down.

Woody biomass is the major resource for primary energy of Laos. In 1994, 89% of total primary energy consumption of Laos came from woody biomass. Nearly 80% of the nation lives in countryside, and most family use firewood for cooking at their homes. Even in urban areas, firewood is burnt at 68% of households. Hence, woody biomass is the most important energy resource of Laos today.

Laos is not endowed with fossil fuels such as crude oil or natural gas in its territory. Laos depends on imported fuels for automobiles 100%. Import of crude oil has been increasing year after year, and amounted to 680,000 kℓ(kiloliter) in 2009. Being an inland country with no ports, Laos imports oil through ports of Thailand and Vietnam. In this circumstance, Laotian government is making efforts to promote production of biofuels, and it has set a goal to supply 15 % of domestic fuel demand in the country by 2015.

Recently, production of biofuels in the interior of Laos has been attracting interest of overseas business as an object of investment. As a suitable resource for producing biodiesel, jatropha plantation is being made actively. A prominent investor is a Korean company KOLAO which plans to develop jatropha plantation as big as 240,000 ha. The biodiesel produced in Laos will be used for electric power generation.

 

 
Fig.  Forest Area of Laos

 

Fig.  Primary Energy Consumed in Laos

 

Fig.  Laos an Inland Country

 

Source:
1) “Global Forest Resource Assessment 2005”, a paper from FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of UN)
2) as for Forest Area of Laos: See : http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/laos.html
3) Investment Guide for Laos 2009: ASEAN-Japan Center
4) “Brief Report of Biomass in LAO PDR for Fourth Biomass Asia Workshop: Malaysia, November 20 – 22, 2007”
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