Cambodia begins first crude oil production in joint venture with Singapore’s KrisEnergy
- The venture will see the extraction of the oil from fields in the Gulf of Thailand
- Prime Minister Hun Sen has hailed the first extraction of crude ‘a new achievement for Cambodia’s economy’
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday announced that the kingdom had extracted its first drop of crude oil from its waters, a long-awaited milestone for one of Southeast Asia’s poorest nations.
The joint venture between Cambodia and Singapore’s KrisEnergy will see the extraction of the oil from fields in the Gulf of Thailand.
The area boasts significant oil deposits, with Chevron first finding proven reserves off Cambodia in 2005. But production stalled as the government and the US giant failed to reach a revenue-sharing agreement, leading the firm to sell its stake to Singapore’s KrisEnergy in 2014.
Hun Sen hailed the first extraction of crude “a new achievement for Cambodia’s economy”.
“The first drop of oil has been produced,” he said on Facebook. “The year 2021 is coming … and we have received a huge gift for our nation – the first oil production in our territory.”
KrisEnergy said the concession started production at an area off the southwestern coast of Sihanoukville on Monday and would progress in phases once new wells were commissioned and completed.
The chief executive of KrisEnergy’s Cambodian operations Kelvin Tang called the event “an important strategic milestone” for the company.