The talks on the 300,000-barrel crude oil stolen by the oil tanker MT Strovolos have been progressing.
The update was shared at a conference on Oil, Gas and Power Cambodia 2022 Expo, co-organised by Gas Academy Pte. Ltd and the Ministry of Mines and Energy, yesterday.
The crude oil that KrisEnergy pumped from Block A in Cambodian waters was smuggled out in June 2021 before the ship was seized by the Indonesian navy at the request of Cambodian authorities.
Cambodia expects to get the stolen crude oil as progressive talks have been made, said Cheap Sour, the ministry’s Director-General of Petroleum.
“To date, stakeholders, representatives of KrisEnergy, MT Strovolos and representatives of the Cambodian side have entered into a settlement to coordinate the interests of all parties,” Sour said.
“As for the negotiation, it has shown many positive points, and we hope that the issue would be resolved in the near future,” Sour added.
Since it was seized by the Indonesian navy, World Tankers Management, authorising the oil tanker MT Strovolos immediately denied stealing the crude oil and demanded that Indonesia release its crew.
Cambodia discovered commercial oil resources in its waters in Block A, which is commercially viable and received the first drop of its oil on December 29, 2020.
In the opening speech at the event, Suy Sem, Minister of Mines and Energy, said that the government encourages local and foreign investors to consider investing in the oil and gas sectors.
Cambodia has had geological studies conducted by international oil companies such as Elf, Esso, Enterprise Oil, PTT, Premier Oil, Chevron, PVEP, JOGMEC and MOECO, he said.
“The Cambodian government has encouraged the private sector both domestically and internationally to increase investment downstream such as oil refinery, oil import, restore, transport and distribution of petroleum and petrol products to ensure the sufficient supplies of oil and gas to consumers and other sector development,” Sem said.
According to a study by the Economic Research Institute for Southeast Asia and East Asia (ERIA), demand for petroleum products in Cambodia will increase from 2.8 million tonnes in 2020 to 4.8 million tonnes by 2030 and continue to increase to 8.3 million tonnes in 2040. More investment is required in the sector to meet demands.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
