Energy

Gasoline prices in Cambodia hit an all-time high on Friday, stoking fears of limited fuel reserves and increasing production costs at some of the Kingdom’s businesses. Premium gasoline sold for $1.40 per litre last week, surpassing the $1.38-per-litre price during the global economic slump at the ...

The Kingdom’s much-hyped deadline of tapping its first oil reserves by December 12 2012, or 12-12-12, will not be met, a government spokesman said yesterday. Chevron Overseas Petroleum (Cambodia) Ltd, which is now exploring the Kingdom’s offshore Block A in the Gulf of Thailand, has notified ...

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An has told Iran’s ambassador to Cambodia that once an oil refinery in the country is operational, Cambodia would be able to import crude oil from Iran and export refined oil products to China, the Council of Ministers said on its ...

Workers who were seen last week clearing forestland in Stung Treng province in preparation for the construction of the 400-megawatt Lower Sesan 2 dam have stopped their work after receiving an order to do so by the district governor, officials said yesterday. Sesan district governor Bou ...

The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy is set to provide a total of US$800,000 to small and medium enterprises as part of an initiative to strengthen the sector’s technical and competitive strategy. As many as 30 companies would receive the financing, Meng Satheara, the ministry’s ...

The government said yesterday that a gold mine in Kompong Cham province that has damaged about 1 square km of land with chemical waste would cost at least $4 million to clean up. Speaking at a workshop in Phnom Penh on revenue transparency, Sim Sisokhaly, director ...

Workers will begin clearing forestland in Stung Treng province as early as next week in preparation for the controversial 400-megawatt Lower Sesan 2 dam, district officials and villagers said yesterday. The hydropower project, funded by Vietnam Electricity (EVN), will flood tens of thousands of hectares of ...

Cambodia’s biggest solar power initiative to date – expected to provide electricity to 12,000 households in off-grid areas – will be completed on January 31, according to officials involved with the project. Yiang Tal, chief of administration at the Rural Electrification Fund, said more than 10,000 ...

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An will meet Thai Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan on Thursday to discuss the possibility of extracting oil from disputed maritime areas in the Gulf of Thailand, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday. Mr Siphan said that Mr Sok An, who ...

The Cambodian government yesterday offered a subsidy on equipment to private electricity distributors in an effort to expand the Kingdom’s limited power grid. Private power suppliers who have completed between 70 to 80 per cent of their planned investments in electricity networks can request subsidies on ...

Investment approved between January and October surpassed those last year by  US$160 million, according to a report from the Council for the Development of Cambodia. The 126 local and foreign investment projects through October, worth about $6 billion, overshadowed the $5.8 billion in the whole of ...

The agreement by Mekong River Commission Countries to conduct more studies before they decide on Laos’ proposal for the first Lower Mekong dam received further support on Friday, with an influential US senator and an environmental group welcoming it as an important step in preventing ...

A new government plan has set a goal for an annual 1.2 million tonnes of fish by 2019, but officials and environmentalist have said the construction of Xayaburi dam in Laos could stymie Mekong fisheries. The plan would push fish exports to 500,000 tonnes of fish ...

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) agreed yesterday to delay a decision on Laos’ proposal to build the first hydropower dam on the Lower Mekong River in order to allow Japan to conduct further environmental impact studies on the dam project. Although Cambodian officials welcomed the outcome, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen will officially open the Chinese-made Kamchay dam in Kampot province today, the largest hydropower dam to date to operate in Cambodia and capable of supplying an extra 193.2 megawatts of energy. Environmental and human rights groups yesterday criticized the dam’s builder and ...

The water and environment ministers of the four Mekong River Commission (MRC) countries are scheduled to meet in Siem Reap today and tomorrow to reach a key decision on the future – some say the survival – of the Mekong River. The ministers – from Cambodia, ...

An ethanol plant planned for Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province would push local production of the crop, as well as decreased reliance on foreign markets, officials and cassava farmers said yesterday. Construction on the joint venture between a Chinese firm and Cambodia’s National Company for Development will ...

Officials were mum yesterday about the proposed construction of an oil refinery by a Chinese firm in Preah Sihanouk and Kampot provinces, and provincial authorities said the company had not yet been granted any land for the proposed project. Ter Chimnarith, deputy director of Kampot province’s ...

Construction on a US$2 billion oil refining plant, the Kingdom’s first, will start in April, according to officials close to the project. The plant, which will be built on 365 hectares across Kampot and Sihanoukville provinces and is expected to be completed in 2014, is a ...

An environmental group yesterday criticized Thailand’s announcement last week that it would not oppose Laos’ proposal to build the first Lower Mekong dam at the upcoming Mekong River Commission (MRC) meeting, as long as Laos addresses the dam’s environmental impacts. Water and environment ministers from Cambodia, ...

Thailand will not object to the proposed Xayaburi hydropower dam in Laos, but Vientiane must shoulder responsibility for potential environmental damage caused by the US$3.8 billion project, the Bangkok Post reported yesterday. “Laos has the right to construct the dam as it is located inside Lao ...

The Royal Government needs to address the environmental impacts not only from climate change but from man-made, water-based infrastructure such as dams before another natural disaster like the recent flooding claims hundreds of lives, community representatives said yesterday. At the first NGO Forum conference on climate ...

Improved fiscal management and preparation for a decline in foreign aid would help increase Cambodia’s credit rating, according to a quarterly credit opinion from Moody’s Investor Service, which maintained a stable outlook for the country. Reduced exposure to crisis and stagnation in Western economies, continued foreign ...

As Mekong River Commission (MRC) countries prepare for a crucial meeting next week to debate Laos’ proposal to build the first Lower Mekong River dam, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has called for a delay of the controversial project. The US Senate’s concern was echoed ...