Japanese oil firm plans Cambodian operations
November 10th, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Extractive Industries, Mining, Oil
JAPAN Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation has started preliminary surveying as the sole operator in Cambodia’s Block 17 onshore oil field, a 6,500 square-kilometre area of hilly forest in Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear and Siem Reap provinces, according to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project.
Insiders said the JOGMEC assessment is the first publicly available data for onshore oil projects in the Kingdom, although officials at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy and Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) could not be reached yesterday for confirmation…
Don Weinland, p.10
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011111052679/Business/japanese-oil-firm-plans-cambodian-operations.html
Japanese firm awaits approval for oil data collection
November 8th, 2011, The Cambodia Daily, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Extractive Industries, Lakes/Rivers, Mining, Natural Gas, Oil
Mitsui Oil Exploration Co (Moeco), a Japanese petroleum firm that specializes in natural gas, wants to start conducting seismic operations testing for oil and gas north of the Tonle Sap lake by February 2012 and wrap up the tests by May, according to excerpts of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on the project.
The EIA report, dated September 12, requires Ministry of Environment approval prior to beginning seismic operations in the 6,500-square-km Block 17…
Olesia Plokhii, p.23
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
No transparency provisions in draft oil law
November 4th, 2011, The Cambodia Daily, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries
After years in the drafting process, a copy of Cambodia’s much-anticipated draft petroleum law obtained this week shows that there are still no provisions governing the public disclosure of payments made to the government by gas and oil companies.
Dated February 2010, the draft could still see changes, though several sources interviewed this week said that the copy appeared to be the latest version of the proposed law.
Advocacy groups have criticized the apparent lack of legislation on financial transparency in the draft and said that the law would do little to deter public skepticism when payments from the sector are not publicly declared.
According to the draft law, companies must report all oil discoveries, work programs and financial information, including “proper accounting”, to the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA), the government’s regulatory body. It also says the CNPA is in charge of collecting all fees from oil and gas companies…
Olesia Plokhii, p.1
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
Floods drive fishing sector
November 2nd, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Disasters & Disaster Management, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries
Increased fishing yields due to floods have led to an increase in rental fees for the Kingdom’s fishing lots compared to 2010, according to official data.
Revenues from bidding on 52 fishing lots in Phnom Penh and four other provinces increased by US$735,000 year to date, Nao Thuok, director general of fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said…
SIEAM BUNTHY
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011110252470/Business/floods-drive-fishing-sector.html
Chinese firm buys timber concession
November 2nd, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries, Land Tenure
Cambodia has granted Chinese timber company Shengda Wood a 22,600-hectare timber concession in Kratie and Strung Treng provinces, officials said.
The Shenzhen Stock Exchange-listed company would export wood from the 70-year concession to supply a depleted market in China, Li Jie, a management official in Sichuan, told the Post, although he declined to disclose the price of the concession…
DON WEINLAND
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011110252471/Business/chinese-firm-buys-timber-concession.html
Climate plan has Kingdom seeing REDD
October 27th, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries, Land Tenure
The Forestry Administration has teamed up with the Cambodian Wildlife Conservation Society and Forest Carbon to develop a large-scale REDD project in eastern Cambodia, officials said yesterday.
REDD – or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, a UN initiative – is one of the key programs the Royal Government plans to implement as part of its climate change combat agenda…
BRIDGET DI CERTO
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011102752383/National-news/climate-plan-has-kingdom-seeing-redd.html
Dredging ends, effects linger
October 20th, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries
Ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat has kept a promise to stop his company’s dredging operations on Koh Kong province’s Tatai river, relieved business owners and residents living along the waterway said yesterday.
But provincial officials confirmed that as the senator’s dredging boats moved on to their new location, one of them hit an electricity pole, knocking out power in the provincial capital, Kemarak Phumin town, for an estimated four to seven days.
Janet Newman, owner of the Rainbow Lodge ecotourism resort, said Ly Yong Phat had stuck to an agreement he made with her and others to stop dredging by October 17, and even finished early, to the delight of tourism operators and, in particular, riverside communities…
SEN DAVID AND DAVID BOYLE
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011102052249/National-news/dredging-ends-effects-linger.html
China’s dam plans don’t hold water with panelists
October 19th, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries, International Relations
China’s dam-building ambitions and alleged lack of transparency were front and centre yesterday during a roundtable discussion on Mekong River development held in the capital.
Representatives from the Chinese embassy defended their country’s record, claiming that China was “eager to participate” in regional cooperation mechanisms.
“We aren’t dominating this river,” embassy representative Xu Daizhu said. “We want to cooperate with other countries in this region, and we want to cooperate with each other to use the water resources in this region.” However, panelists accused the Asian power of irresponsible development…
KRISTIN LYNCH
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101952208/National-news/chinas-dam-plans-dont-hold-water-with-panelists.html
New project aims to lower levels of industrial pollution
October 19th, 2011, The Cambodia Daily, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries, Industry
Industrial pollution ‘hot-spots’ have been identified in waterways in Phnom Penh, Kandal and Kompong Cham provinces following a five-month period of research as part of a UN-backed effort to encourage companies to adopt cleaner practices.
The hot spots – defined as a source of pollution where industrial waste can be discharged into a river directly or through sewage systems that drain into lakes, then rivers – were highlighted between May and September in a bid to promote eco-friendliness.
Sokchea Hak, a project coordinator for the UN Industrial Development Organisation (Unido), said the hot spots were found “where most industry is located,” but that “water quality [in the area] is still in good shape.”…
Lauren Crothers and Phok Dorn, p.26
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
Officials ask for more info ahead of drilling
October 11th, 2011, The Cambodia Daily, Energy, Extractive Industries
Environment Minister Mok Mareth yesterday asked China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to provide more details on the environmental impact of its project, though he said that exploration for oil and gas would likely begin later this month.
At a meeting at the Ministry of Environment, government officials voiced concerns that the government would be liable in the case of an oil spill from the drilling of an exploratory well 37km southwest off the coast of Sihanoukville. They also said that CNOOC must cooperate more closely with the Fisheries Administration, show proof of oil spill insurance and provide estimated statistics on emissions…
Also speaking at the meeting, Nam Linal, deputy secretary general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, called on CNOOC to clarify who would be responsible for an oil spill in its Environmental Impact Assessment…
Olesia Plokhii and Hul Reaksmey, p.29
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
Mine concession sale planned in Ratanakkiri
October 5th, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Extractive Industries
Astra Resources, parent company of Australia’s Astra Mining, will finalise within two months the acquisition of a 222-square-kilometre gold concession in Cambodia’s Ratanakkiri province, the company announced yesterday.
Astra, which listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange September 30, is aiming for large and speedy gold production in the Kingdom’s remote northeast. Some familiar with the industry, however, have questioned the ambitions of the little-known company…
Don Weinland
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100551944/Business/mine-concession-sale-planned-in-ratanakkiri.html
Thais to reconsider oil MoU
October 5th, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Energy, Extractive Industries
Cambodian officials yesterday welcomed statements from Thailand’s foreign minister that an all-important 2001 memorandum of understanding on the Overlapping Claims Area would most likely be renewed.
Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul said the MoU would be sent to Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s cabinet on October 18 for review, according to Pheu Thai spokeswoman Titima Chaisang. The 2001 agreement between the two governments originally outlined a plan for defining the disputed Overlapping Claims Area, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas…
Don Weinland
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100551947/Business/thais-to-reconsider-oil-mou.html
Ongpin’s Atok buys Hong Kong company
October 5th, 2011, Manila Standard Today, Business & Commercial Development, Extractive Industries
Atok-Big Wedge Co. Inc., a listed company owned by the group of former Trade minister Roberto Ongpin, acquired Tidemark Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong company that owns 25.9 percent of Forum Energy Plc, an oil and gas firm controlled by Philex Mining Corp.
Atok-Big Wedge said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Tuesday it purchased 100 percent of Tidemark Holdings, which owns 8.646 million ordinary shares of Forum Energy Plc…..
Atok earlier spun off its mining assets to a wholly-owned subsidiary, Atok Gold. The mineral properties of Atok Gold are found in Baguio City.
Atok said in an annual stockholders’ meeting in May it planned to spend P1 billion in cash to acquire mining assets in the Philippines, Laos and Cambodia.
Jenniffer B. Austria
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideBusiness.htm?f=2011/october/5/business4.isx&d=2011/october/5
245,500 tons of rubber per year to be collected by 2020
September 30th, 2011, Economics Today, Agriculture & Agri-business, Extractive Industries
Rubber production in Cambodia is expected to increase by 245,500 tons per year by 2020, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). MAFF Minister Chan Sarun said on Aug 30 that Cambodia will have 365,000 hectares for rubber production as the amount of available land increased by 181,040 hectares in the first six months of 2011. In the first six months of 2011, 21,511 tons of rubber worth US$1,022 million were exported abroad. Rubber was introduced to Cambodia in 1910 on 150 hectares of land in Kampot’s Prey Tob area during French colonial rule.
(p 28, Vol 5, No 95)
http://www.etmcambodia.com/
China IPO to benefit Kingdom
September 30th, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries, Industry, Technical Assistance
China’s Sinohydro Group Ltd earned US$2.12 billion in an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the company announced yesterday. The move came just two months before Sinohydro launches the Kamchay Hydroelectric Dam in Cambodia’s Kampot province.
The company expects the IPO to help fund future projects in the Kingdom, as well as several construction works in China and abroad, Sinohydro Cambodia representative Zhao Jinhui said yesterday…
The company sold 3 billion shares at CNY4.50 (US$0.70) per share, 500 million shares less than announced last week in a Shanghai Stock Exchange prospectus…
(Don Weinland, p.7)
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011093051879/Business/china-ipo-to-benefit-kingdom.html
Calls for Kingdom to join transparency group
September 23rd, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Extractive Industries
A new US commitment to oil and mining transparency may push the Kingdom closer to a similar agreement, Cambodian experts have said.
US President Barack Obama announced earlier this week that the US would join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative as an implementing country, according to a White House statement. The pledge, the first from a G8 country, commits the US to public disclosure of revenues from oil, gas and mining assets.
Cambodia considered EITI membership in 2007 but has since declined to sign on…
(Don Weinland, p.8)
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011092351815/Business/calls-for-kingdom-to-join-transparency-group.html
Oil-claims talks ‘highly likely’
September 23rd, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Extractive Industries
Thailand is reportedly preparing to re-enter negotiations with Cambodia on the Overlapping Claims Area after officials from the two countries talked this week at the ASEAN Energy Business Forum in Brunei.
Thai Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said yesterday that he met informally with Ministry of Industry Secretary of State Ith Praing at the forum and both agreed “the development of the OCA is highly likely”.
However, he noted that previous agreements to share petroleum resources with neighbouring countries took more than a decade to materialise. Therefore, no deadline had been set for the OCA’s development…
(Don Weinland, p.7)
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011092351817/Business/oil-claims-talks-highly-likely.html
500 hectares of sanctuary granted to rubber company
September 22nd, 2011, The Cambodia Daily, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries, Land Tenure
Five hundred hectares of Mondolkiri land inside a protected wildlife sanctuary have been granted to a rubber company, sparking concerns among indigenous minorities who rely on the forest.
According to a sub-decree dated August 31 and signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, the government approved an 80-year lease to K Peace Investment company for land inside Phom Nam Lyr sanctuary located in Pech Chreada district for agro-industrial purposes and a rubber plantation…
(Kuch Naren, p.23)
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
Payout for swept-away workers
September 21st, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Disasters & Disaster Management, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Extractive Industries, Labor
The company constructing a dam in Koh Kong province, where seven workers were swept away in floodwaters earlier this month, has paid US$1,000 to the families of each of the men for funeral expenses, but is denying responsibility for the incident, an official said yesterday.
Sok Nhor, chief of the penal crime department of Koh Kong provincial police, said China National Heavy Machinery on Monday night paid $1,000 to the families of each of the seven men employed at its Stung Tatay hydropower project who were swept away in floodwaters on September 10…
(Tep Nimol, p.5)
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011092151770/National-news/payout-for-swept-away-workers.html
PM talks gas and oil with Thai assembly head
September 21st, 2011, The Phnom Penh Post, Extractive Industries, International Relations
Prime Minister Hun Sen held talks with President of the Thai National Assembly Somsak Kiatsuranot in the capital yesterday, paving the way for the extraction of contested oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Thailand…
Yesterday’s talks between Hun Sen and Somsak focused on restoring diplomatic relations between the neighbours so both Kingdoms could begin exploiting resources in the 27,000-square-kilometre Overlapping Claims Area, the premier’s personal spokesman Eang Sophalleth said…
(Vong Sokheng, p.3)
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011092151777/National-news/pm-talks-gas-and-oil-with-thai-assembly-head.html