:00:16. > :00:21.News. Now for the latest financial news with World Business Report.
:00:21. > :00:24.Get fracking! The boss of Shell says Europe is missing out on the
:00:25. > :00:31.revolution in shale energy. Meanwhile, US firms rake in the
:00:32. > :00:35.benefits of cheap fuel. Plus: view from the Golden Bridge. We're live
:00:35. > :00:45.from the World Economic Forum in Burma - to find out why it's one of
:00:45. > :00:51.
:00:51. > :00:54.the world's hottest investment destinations. I'm Sally Bundock.
:00:54. > :00:57.Also in the programme: its proving to be another volatile trading
:00:57. > :00:59.session in Tokyo. We'll have the latest. Europe faces a growing
:00:59. > :01:04.struggle to compete with the US because of the cheap energy
:01:05. > :01:09.released by "fracking". That's the warning from the boss of oil giant
:01:09. > :01:12.Shell - Peter Voser. He's told the BBC that US firms face much lower
:01:12. > :01:15.energy costs than their European rivals because of a "revolution" in
:01:15. > :01:20.extracting oil and gas from shale rock - something the US has been
:01:20. > :01:30.doing for more than a decade - but it has yet to take off on this side
:01:30. > :01:30.
:01:30. > :01:32.of the Atlantic. Let's remind ourselves how fracking works. The
:01:32. > :01:36.technique involves drilling thousands of feet down, then
:01:36. > :01:45.sideways into the rock. Explosions are used to fracture the shale
:01:45. > :01:49.formations. They may go sideways. Then, water, sand and chemicals are
:01:49. > :01:52.forced in, breaking open the rock and releasing oil or gas that could
:01:52. > :02:02.otherwise not be reached. At the moment the US is way ahead of the
:02:02. > :02:06.
:02:07. > :02:10.rest of the world, giving industry there much lower energy prices.
:02:10. > :02:17.Global oil prices may become lower. Here's the boss of Shell, Peter
:02:17. > :02:25.Voser. We did not have this technology before but we can
:02:25. > :02:32.develop it. There's a lot of gas in the revolution. Gives much more or
:02:33. > :02:37.all. The US has more certainty and competitiveness. It gives the price
:02:37. > :02:42.pressure because the oil production is much faster than the
:02:42. > :02:47.infrastructure such as pipelines and transporting and shipping and
:02:47. > :02:51.repining. It's not up to scratch and they need to catch up. For
:02:51. > :02:57.while there will be volatility and differentials and discounts but
:02:57. > :03:02.over time, once the infrastructure comes up, it will Road over time
:03:02. > :03:07.and will go back when all pricing. Evidence is emerging that there are
:03:07. > :03:12.big shall and gas deposits under North Africa and you are investing
:03:12. > :03:17.$1 billion in China each year with a lot of interest in South America
:03:17. > :03:23.and in Europe, Great Britain, Poland and Germany. About 20 years'
:03:23. > :03:27.time, will be a new global order in the energy world? It may be
:03:27. > :03:32.significant. We will make a distinction between North America
:03:32. > :03:37.and the rest. They had developed this over 50 years and it's been
:03:37. > :03:41.proven. The rest of the world, we need to just going to explore at
:03:41. > :03:46.the moment find out how much is there because we don't know but
:03:46. > :03:51.there is optimism through geological analysis to see these
:03:51. > :03:55.formations. But it still needs to be proven. What implications will
:03:55. > :04:02.his revolution have to the competitiveness compared the rest
:04:02. > :04:08.of the world and the US? Their gas they have there, is what we call a
:04:08. > :04:11.very cheap stock. That can be brought for manufacturers and
:04:11. > :04:14.petrochemicals and heavy steel making. The energy bill Their
:04:14. > :04:17.energy bills will fall, and that makes them more competitive. So
:04:17. > :04:19.what you see now is that actually that the US is bringing back those
:04:19. > :04:22.manufacturing plants, and these steel plants, and these
:04:22. > :04:28.petrochemical plants into the US, generate jobs and get very
:04:28. > :04:31.competitive. Now this will be to the detriment of Europe for example
:04:31. > :04:34.- because we will lose some of these manufacturing places, and
:04:34. > :04:44.therefore we will lose jobs, and that really is the challenge we
:04:44. > :04:48.
:04:48. > :04:55.have in Europe to stay competitive. They are calling it the Golden
:04:55. > :04:58.Bridge. Bordering both South and East Asia, linking India to China -
:04:58. > :05:01.after years of political isolation, Burma is now being touted as one of
:05:01. > :05:04.the hottest investment opportunities. That's why the
:05:04. > :05:06.capital Naypyidaw has been chosen as the location for this week's
:05:06. > :05:13.World Economic Forum. Hundreds of the world's top business leaders
:05:13. > :05:20.are there, as well as our Chief Business Correspondent Linda Yueh.
:05:20. > :05:27.Tell us more. Over 900 executives are here at this economic Forum to
:05:27. > :05:31.discover what Burma has to offer. I am joined by the President for the
:05:31. > :05:37.South-East Asia for Mastercard. It's great to speak to you. Can you
:05:37. > :05:44.talk us through wide the country has so much potential in
:05:44. > :05:48.transforming from a cash to credit society? It's a resource-rich
:05:48. > :05:53.economy with 60 million people in isolation for over 50 years.
:05:53. > :06:00.Suddenly, the shackles have come off to create a real pioneering
:06:00. > :06:05.market opportunity and for Russ, it's correct, it's a cash economy
:06:05. > :06:09.100%. By bringing in a electronic payments to this market, we will be
:06:09. > :06:16.able to drive inclusion, efficiency and support economic development
:06:16. > :06:20.and this is very exciting. It's quite a poor country less than
:06:20. > :06:24.$1,000 earned by each people but what is the biggest challenge to
:06:24. > :06:32.realise the potential? There is a number of challenges for this
:06:32. > :06:36.market. Roughly speaking it's about working with the consumer to make
:06:36. > :06:41.sure they can trust the electronic payments and the banking with a
:06:41. > :06:44.crisis risibly so we want to make sure transactions it easy and smart
:06:44. > :06:49.all the things that Mastercard stands for in trust of electronic
:06:49. > :06:56.payments. Once they see it, they will become confident the use
:06:56. > :07:01.credit cards. One of the keys for this business here is a
:07:01. > :07:05.continuation and political reforms and the opening up. Will these
:07:05. > :07:10.changes become irreversible? What we are seeing is that the
:07:10. > :07:15.Government is very sincere. Everyone we spoke to knows they
:07:15. > :07:20.need to do this. The commitment is ready to go. Everybody wants
:07:20. > :07:26.dialogue and they want to make change and may feel confident that
:07:27. > :07:32.they will do it. It's a huge task. You need take time and they need to
:07:32. > :07:36.be careful and informed but we feel very Ward that things will happen.
:07:36. > :07:40.I may not happen as quickly as we would like but at the same time the
:07:41. > :07:45.commitment is there from the leaders of this country. There's a
:07:45. > :07:55.lot of potential here but a little bit of weariness as to the growth
:07:55. > :07:57.
:07:57. > :07:59.of the market here in this 60 More updates on that. It's been
:07:59. > :08:08.another volatile session for share markets in Asia, particularly in
:08:08. > :08:14.Japan. Sharanjit Leyl is at our Asia business hub in Singapore. In
:08:14. > :08:22.Japan right now, every day we see swift inclines and declines. Tell
:08:22. > :08:26.us about the market today. That's right. It's a roller-coaster ride.
:08:26. > :08:34.The Japanese Nikkei, the stock market has been very volatile
:08:34. > :08:40.recently. It's fallen 17% since peaking in May. It's fallen well
:08:40. > :08:46.below the psychological 13,000 mark where it's lurking today. Before
:08:46. > :08:54.that it had been staggering with games soaring to 80% from last
:08:54. > :08:59.November. But three weeks ago, stocks have been very volatile this
:08:59. > :09:05.week after disappointment over plans unveiled yesterday by Shinzo
:09:05. > :09:10.Abe, the Prime Minister, his aggressive stimulus package. He
:09:10. > :09:13.proposes to raise him comes and composes economic zones for
:09:13. > :09:19.attracting more foreign business but this was not considered radical
:09:19. > :09:25.and up by many investors have sold up the stocks falling 2% yesterday
:09:25. > :09:29.and their continuing to fall today. Thank you very much for that. We
:09:29. > :09:31.will talk to the trade is about those markets later. The
:09:31. > :09:35.International Monetary Fund has admitted it made mistakes in
:09:35. > :09:38.handling Greece's first international bailout. The IMF said
:09:38. > :09:46.it was too optimistic in its growth assumptions and said a debt
:09:46. > :09:51.restructuring should have been considered earlier. Greece was
:09:51. > :09:57.granted a 110bn euro bailout by the IMF and EU in May 2010. Another
:09:57. > :09:59.130bn euro rescue package was approved in February 2012. From
:09:59. > :10:05.today Brussels will impose import tariffs on Chinese solar panels,
:10:05. > :10:08.which now account for 80% of the panels used in the European Union.
:10:08. > :10:12.It has raised fears of a damaging trade war after China announced
:10:12. > :10:14.it's investigating the possible unfair pricing of European wine.
:10:14. > :10:17.The apparent tit-for-tat move appears to target southern European
:10:17. > :10:20.countries which backed the solar panel action - particularly France
:10:20. > :10:30.which sells more than half the 300 million litres of European wine
:10:30. > :10:33.
:10:33. > :10:36.bought by China each year. The European Central Bank holds its
:10:36. > :10:39.monthly policy meeting later - it is expected to keep its main
:10:39. > :10:43.interest rate at a record low of 0.5% after last month's cut.
:10:43. > :10:46.Markets will be looking for any clues as to the next move. They