With the potential for vast state revenues from oil extraction and mining in coming years, Cambodia is currently failing to manage its nascent extractive industries according to a think tank.
New York-based Revenue Watch Institute yesterday launched its 2013 Resource Governance Index, which included Cambodia for the first time.... continue
Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal has given the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) the green light to proceed with a plan to build coal-powered plants in Myanmar and Cambodia – providing Thailand with 10,000 megawatts of electricity. Egat has also been instructed to negotiate the purchase of nuclear power from China in order to bring down the cost of electricity. …
In addition, the Energy Ministry has also been discussing the possibility of investing in a coal-powered plant in Cambodia to produce 4,000MW of electricity. Thailand hopes that buying power from Cambodia will keep the domestic cost of electricity from exceeding Bt6 per unit. Egat also plans to go ahead with its coal-powered project in Krabi once it has reached an “understanding” with residents and businesses protesting against the deal. …
In addition to investing in coal-operated power plants from neighbouring countries, Egat is also looking at investing in hydro-electric power projects within the region. …
Prime Minister Hun Sen will travel to China on Saturday to meet with the rising superpower’s new leadership, in a trip the government expects to yield nearly $2 billion in loans and aid.
Most significantly, the Government is hoping to secure Chinese funding for a 1.67 billion oil refinery project in Kampot province, which would ensure China’s prime position in Cambodia’s yet-to-take-off oil industry. …
The statement [from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation] lists eight deals including a memorandum of understanding between the National Bank of Cambodia and China Banking Regulatory Commission, an “agreement on economic and technical cooperation” worth 48.38 million, more than $73 million in concessional loans for an irrigation project in Kompong Thom province and a bridge in Kandal province.
According to the statement, the government also expects to sign a memorandum of understanding on a 5-million-ton-a-year oil refinery project, involving China Development Bank and China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, both Chinese state-owned companies, to the tune of $1.67 billion.
China’s development bank is known as one of China’s “policy banks”- meaning that it gives loans in support of Chinese foreign policy. Such banks have funded Chinese-built hydropower dams in Cambodia.
In December, China Perfect Machinery Industry Corp.- which is majority owned by state-owned industrial giant SINOMACH- and Cambodian Petrochemical Company- which is chaired by cigarette magnate Kong Triv- agreed that work would begin on the oil refinery this year. …
Two Chinese companies, China National Offshore Oil Corporation and China Petrotech Holdings ltd., have been grated exploration blocks off Cambodia’s coat to search for oil and gas. …
Malaysia-based Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad has tied up with Rex International Holding Pte Ltd to participate in exploration opportunities in Cambodia and 10 other countries across the Asia-Pacific region, according to a statement released last Thursday.
Hibiscus’s wholly owned subsidiary Orient Hibiscus Sdn Bhd and Rex International Holding subsidiary Rex South East Asia Ltd have formed the 50-50 joint venture HiRex Petroleum Sdn Bhd, which will have the right of first refusal to participate in exploration opportunities across Southeast Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand. …
The Edge Malaysia reported in January that Petronas, Malaysia’s national oil and gas firm, was again eyeing the Cambodian oil and gas sector almost three years after withdrawing from the Kingdom. …
Cambodia is considered “the most promising country” in the ASEAN community where Thai business entrepreneurs could set up trade and investment projects, according to a noted Thai academic and economist.
Roongrote Benjamasuthin, director of the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce’s ASEAN Business & Economic Center, has said that Thais transnational conglomerates and small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs now look on Cambodia as “the most promising” site for their projects and could help usher in the birth of an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. …
“We should take advantage of the geographical proximity between Thailand and Cambodia while the Thai government has planned to build and expand roads and railways to link the two neighboring countries.Part of these infrastructure would be serviceable when the AEC finally takes off in the next few years,” Roongrote said. …
Utilities giant Electricite de France (EdF) is preparing to enter negotiations with Cambodia over the construction of a power plant to use up natural gas locked up in disputed waters off the country’s coast, France’s ambassador-in-waiting to Cambodia said on Tuesday.
Serge Mostura, who is still awaiting confirmation as ambassador, said that French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told Prime Minister Hun Sen during a private meeting on Sunday that EdF was ready to sign a memorandum of intent to enter negotiations. …
After closing the last of its 19 petrol stations in Cambodia in April 2010, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is again eyeing the country’s oil and gas (O&G) sector. This will see Chevron and its partners developing the country’s first offshore oil field this year.
According to Petronas president and CEO Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas, the Malaysian national oil company will deliberate on the merits of re-entering the Indochinese nation should the company be able to work out a win-win deal with the Cambodian authorities. …
Cambodia’s offshore oil fields are categorized under Blocks A to F, which are also claimed by Thailand. Both countries are negotiating how they will jointly capitalise on the O&G reserves within the Gulf of Thailand.
Onshore [sic], Cambodia was reported to have licensed blocks to state-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group or PetroVietnam, and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp, or Jogmec. …
Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd president and CEO Dr Abd Hapiz Abdullah was quoted as saying that the company is planning to grow its regional presence in Myanmar and Cambodia from 2013.
Energy supplies will be more secure once territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia are resolved, Department of Mineral Fuels director-general Songpob Polchan said on Friday.
Mr Songpob said that the sooner Thailand and Cambodia are able to work out their differences, the sooner they can exploit natural gas reserves and ensure energy security, especially with energy consumption rising in both countries every year.
He said the border dispute around the Preah Vihear temple is unrelated to a separate maritime dispute. Even if the border problem has been settled and drilling concession has been granted, it will be another 10 years before the gas could be extracted. He urged the government to consider public sentiment on the issue. …
The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) is investing in a 120-million-baht pilot biomass gasification project in Saraburi.
“We have already chosen a company to jointly invest in the project. The construction will take around one year to complete,” said Pichai Tinsuntisook, chairman of the FTI’s renewable energy industry club.
“At present, there is no small-scale gasification plant that can sell power with the efficiency up to standard.” …
The United Nations Development Program and Cambodian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy on Thursday jointly held a workshop on Sustainable Energy for All ( SE4All) in order to discuss the future of sustainable energy in Cambodia.
The workshop, opened by Suy Sem, Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, and UN Resident Coordinator Douglas Broderick, was attended by 80 people from various ministries, development partners, non-governmental organizations and civil society. …
The first well drilled by a major Chinese company looking for oil and gas in Cambodian waters has been completed, though hydrocarbons in the firms offshore block are proving elusive, an official at the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) has said. …
A Cambodian NGO believes that investment by Thailand’s PTT oil conglomerate in petroleum projects in the region would promote competition and benefit consumers.
Thailand’s largest petroleum firm said lastThursday it is currently studying options for petrochemical and oil refinery projects in three Asean countries — Cambodia, Indonesia and Myanmar. …
PTT, Thailand’s largest oil and gas conglomerate said it plans to conduct a feasibility study on petrochemical and oil refinery projects in three ASEAN countries – Cambodia, Indonesia and Myanmar, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Pailin Chuchottaworn, PTT chief executive said, however, that Indonesia and Myanmar show the most potential.
Bin May Mialia, commercial manager for PTT in Cambodia was not aware of plans for a study, and he declined to comment further. …
The SET-listed Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc (RATCH), Thailand’s largest private power producer, is to delay the purchase of a coal mine in Indonesia, as the global coal price has dropped sharply.
Ratch had planned to acquire a mine to serve its new coal-fired power plants in Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar.
However, the coal price has lost 30% this week, said chief executive Noppol Milinthanggoon….
The possible investments in power generation in Myanmar and Cambodia are planned to tap an increase in electricity demand in those countries. …
If Cambodia’s oil and gas sector is well managed, and transparent, it could provide the country a golden opportunity for investment, development and poverty reduction, said independent economist Chan Sophal, who spoke at a recent gathering looking at the economies of oil-producing countries.
Chan Sophal said crucial areas such as human resource development, agricultural production improvements and infrastructure construction, such as roads and irrigation systems, need large investments, which oil and gas could provide. …
Cambodia, with a total population of 14,952,665 as of July 2010, is located in Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. The country mostly has a tropical climate and covers a total area of 181,035 km2…
Cambodia’s key natural resources include gemstones, gas, oil, phosphates, manganese, iron ore and timber.
In 2010, the country’s industrial mineral sector produced an increasing amount of crushed stone and sand and gravel. These minerals were consumed by the country’s construction industry, and limestone was consumed domestically for the production of cement. …
Cambodia spent $1.22 billion to purchase petroleum from foreign suppliers in the first nine months of this year, a 18 percent rise compared with $1.03 billion it spent during the same period last year, a Commerce Ministry’s report showed Monday. …
The government and private companies are being encouraged to adopt a voluntary initiative in order to make revenues generated by the extractives sector more transparent.
The workshop on the Best Practice of Governance in Extractive Industries and Revenue Management, which was held in Phnom Penh on Friday by the Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency (CRRT) group, called for the establishment of a transparency initiative ahead of 2016, when the government hopes that resources from offshore oil wells will finally be tapped. …
A draft petroleum law, which is currently before the Council of Ministers, has been criticized by advocacy groups as lacking any financial transparency, as there are no provisions governing the public disclosure of payments made to the government’s national petroleum authority by oil and gas companies. …
Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency (CRRT) will host a one-day National Conference Nov. 2 on the Best Practice of Governance in Extractive Industries and Revenue Management.
The conference, to be attended by representatives from the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN), will also include representatives of Cambodian government ministries, industry experts, researchers, university students, national and international non-governmental organizations, embassies, donors, development partners and members of the media and the private sector. The event will take place at the Cambodiana Hotel in Phnom Penh….
“This conference is an important event to best build common understanding among government, the private sector and the public on important details about oil, gas and mining development in Cambodia,” said Chhay Sarath, Executive Director of CRRT.
The Danish company Go4 Bunker, which has developed their “Smart bunker system” in partnership with Shenfei Group Co and Maersk Broker K/s, wants to partner with Cambodian companies to develop not only the Cambodian Offshore Marine Fuel Oil Business, but also related business in connection with CNPA (Cambodian National Petroleum Authorities) offshore exploration and local service.
For this purpose Go4 Bunker Denmark will launch their new Cambodian company Go4 Bunker Co., Ltd (Go4BC) on October 10 at 8 – 10 am…
