Cambodia asks Iran to help with stalled oil and gas exploration
Cambodia has invited Iran to examine the feasibility of developing the country’s existing oil blocks and to conduct further oil and gas exploration studies.
The move comes after Cambodia ended its short-lived foray into the oil production business after Singapore-based exploration firm KrisEnergy it commissioned declared bankruptcy in June 2021. The result was that the country’s first-ever oil extraction – from Block A in Apsara oil field in the Gulf of Thailand – had come to a full stop after just nearly 300,000 barrels of oil were extracted.
Cheap Sour, director-general of Cambodia’s General Department of Petroleum, a unit of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, at a recent bilateral meeting hailed Iran as a country with “significant experience as an oil and gas producer” and invited investors from the Middle Eastern nation to look into Cambodia’s existing oil blocks, as well as to explore new ones, but said that these talks were at a “very early stage.”
Oil exploration could be resumed
Hong Vanak, director of international economics at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said that if the Iranian side agreed to Cambodia’s request to invest in and develop the country’s oil blocks, it would be a positive for the local oil sector and could mean a resumption of pumping operations that were suspended due to the bankruptcy of KrisEnergy.
Royal Academy of Cambodia economics researcher Ky Sereyvath added that “the ministry’s efforts to attract investors to develop the oil sector are very important [in promoting] the successful pumping of Cambodia’s oil, which we hope will lower oil prices, as well as allow the government to [generate] more revenue to help in key areas such as health and education.”
Talks about set-up of refinery, technical assistance and skills training
According to Sour, in addition to discussing cooperation on investment and development of Cambodia’s oil blocks, studies on the feasibility of setting up a refinery in Cambodia were also considered. A possible engagement by Iran would have to come with the provision of technical assistance, human resource training in the petroleum sector and the development of the necessary infrastructure, he added.
There is indeed interest from the Middle East in Cambodia’s oil resources. At the end of 2019, Mubadala Petroleum, a major oil and gas company from the United Arab Emirates, sought investment opportunities in the Cambodian oil sector, but took no further action at the onset of the Covid-19 crisis.
[caption id="attachment_38250" align="alignleft" width="300"] Cambodia's Apsara oil field so far provided 300,000 barrels of oil[/caption] Cambodia has invited Iran to examine the feasibility of developing the country’s existing oil blocks and to conduct further oil and gas exploration studies. The move comes after Cambodia ended its short-lived foray into the oil production business after Singapore-based exploration firm KrisEnergy it commissioned declared bankruptcy in June 2021. The result was that the country’s first-ever oil extraction – from Block A in Apsara oil field in the Gulf of Thailand – had come to a full stop after just nearly 300,000 barrels of...
Cambodia has invited Iran to examine the feasibility of developing the country’s existing oil blocks and to conduct further oil and gas exploration studies.
The move comes after Cambodia ended its short-lived foray into the oil production business after Singapore-based exploration firm KrisEnergy it commissioned declared bankruptcy in June 2021. The result was that the country’s first-ever oil extraction – from Block A in Apsara oil field in the Gulf of Thailand – had come to a full stop after just nearly 300,000 barrels of oil were extracted.
Cheap Sour, director-general of Cambodia’s General Department of Petroleum, a unit of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, at a recent bilateral meeting hailed Iran as a country with “significant experience as an oil and gas producer” and invited investors from the Middle Eastern nation to look into Cambodia’s existing oil blocks, as well as to explore new ones, but said that these talks were at a “very early stage.”
Oil exploration could be resumed
Hong Vanak, director of international economics at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said that if the Iranian side agreed to Cambodia’s request to invest in and develop the country’s oil blocks, it would be a positive for the local oil sector and could mean a resumption of pumping operations that were suspended due to the bankruptcy of KrisEnergy.
Royal Academy of Cambodia economics researcher Ky Sereyvath added that “the ministry’s efforts to attract investors to develop the oil sector are very important [in promoting] the successful pumping of Cambodia’s oil, which we hope will lower oil prices, as well as allow the government to [generate] more revenue to help in key areas such as health and education.”
Talks about set-up of refinery, technical assistance and skills training
According to Sour, in addition to discussing cooperation on investment and development of Cambodia’s oil blocks, studies on the feasibility of setting up a refinery in Cambodia were also considered. A possible engagement by Iran would have to come with the provision of technical assistance, human resource training in the petroleum sector and the development of the necessary infrastructure, he added.
There is indeed interest from the Middle East in Cambodia’s oil resources. At the end of 2019, Mubadala Petroleum, a major oil and gas company from the United Arab Emirates, sought investment opportunities in the Cambodian oil sector, but took no further action at the onset of the Covid-19 crisis.
