Cambodia Government have No Plans For Oil Production

Cambodia government said that it had no plan for maintaining oil production in the country after its partner KrisEnergy made an announcement. KrisEnergy announced it was headed to liquidation, just five months after extracting the country’s first drop of oil.Singapore-listed KrisEnergy said on June 4 that it was unable to pay its debts based on actual and/or contingent liabilities and will proceed to liquidation.

KrisEnergy signed a pact with Cambodia government in 2017 to develop 3,083 sq km of the Khmer Basin in the Gulf of Thailand known as Block A, after it bought out Chevron’s operating interest in 2014 for $65 million.A Ministry of Mines and Energy spokesman said that they can’t predict and they can’t answer this question, let’s wait and see when asked about future oil production. Tanya Pang, KrisEnergy Vice President, declined to comment when contacted by email, referring Reuters to past statements.

Cambodia government officials still celebrated the first drop of oil at a preservation ceremony in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, five days after KrisEnergy made its announcement. According to the state media agency Agence Kampuchea Presse, the oil, enclosed within a tear-shaped glass ampoule perched on a golden stand was installed in the monument by Minister of Energy and Mines Suy Sem and Tea Banh, Cambodia minister of defense, who also chaired the committee tasked with constructing the $12 million monuments.

Completed in 2018 with donations from prominent tycoons, the 33-meter-high concrete monument was constructed by Hun Sen’s government to commemorate its legacy and achievements, particularly the win-win strategy a mix of military offensives and political amnesties that helped to bring Cambodia civil war to an end in the late 1990s.