Energy
Electricity production
Four feared dead in Cambodia dam accident
According to Veal Veng district police chief Theang Leng, the incident occurred on Saturday afternoon, apparently after heavy water pressure caused part of the Stung Atay dam’s reservoir to collapse. “Four people are missing. We fear they have drowned but this is not sure yet,” he ...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-03/an-cambodia-dam/4403764
Dam collapse in Cambodia leaves four workers missing
Four workers have gone missing after the collapse of an in-progress hydropower dam in Western Cambodia, apparently due to a leak in the structure. The Associated Press reports that the Saturday collapse occurred at the Stung Atay Hydroelectric Project, a $255-million dollar dam on the Atay ...
Power projects aim to generate 4,000 megawatts by 2020
The government is carrying out 18 power projects to generate more than 4,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020, according to the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy. In its annual report, the ministry says Cambodia consumed 2,788 million kilowatt/hours in 2011. Thailand and Vietnam supplied 1,765 ...
Cambodian NGO: PTT entry would benefit consumers
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, ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/323691/cambodia-ptt-entry-would-benefit-consumers
Study reveals extent of Mekong dam food security threat
The planned construction of hydropowered dams on the Mekong River in South-East Asia could jeopardise livelihoods, water access and food security for 60 million people, across Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, according to a study. The study reports that dams will block fish migration routes and ...
Electricity Vietnam No Longer Involved in Lower Sesan 2 Dam
Electricity Vietnam International (EVNI), a subsidiary of Vietnam’s state-owned electricity giant EVN, is no longer involved in the Lower Sesan 2 dam, a Vietnamese Embassy official confirmed yesterday. Cambodian conglomerate Royal Group and China’s Hydrolancang International Energy Co. Ltd. on Monday signed an agreement in Phnom ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/electricity-vietnam-no-longer-involved-in-lower-sesan-2-dam-6363/
PTT to conduct feasibility study in Cambodia: report
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 ...
Chinese sign deal on dam, villagers fear flooding
The massive and highly controversial Lower Sesan 2 Dam project took a major step forward yesterday with the inking of government power purchase agreements and an investment deal between Royal Group and a Chinese company. But details about the contracts, their implementation or the fate of ...
Chevron drilling delay caused by US slowdown: lawmaker
Chevron Oil and Gas Co has delayed offshore oil drilling in Cambodia until 2016 mainly because of the economic slowdown in the United States, a senior lawmaker says. Cheam Yeap, chairman of the National Assembly Commission on Economy, Finance, Banking and Audit, said inadequate human resources ...
1 in 20 Firms Carry Out Environment Assessments
Only about 5 percent of the roughly 2,000 major development projects, such as dams, roads and bridges, approved by the government between 2004 and 2011 carried out environmental impact assessments, an official at the ministry of Environment said yesterday. Speaking at a workshop in Phnom Penh ...
Simon Lewis and Khuon Narim, P.1
http://www.cambodiadaily.com
Millions Threatened by Dam in Stung Treng
More studies should be conducted on the controversial Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province in order to understand its potential social and environmental effects, Conservation International (C.I.) said in a statement. The Lower Sesan 2-as well as other dams planned for the Sesan, Srepok ...
NGOs ask ASEAN to address Xayaburi
Several groups are calling for the ASEAN summit to address the regional discord caused by the Xayaburi dam, which Laos began constructing earlier this month despite opposition downriver from neighbours Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as from conservation groups. On Friday, the Rivers Coalition in Cambodia ...
China's Aid to Cambodia Helps Cement Ties
When Asia-Pacific leaders gather this weekend in Southeast Asia—a bright spot in a sputtering global economy—their Cambodian hosts may extend a warm welcome to U.S. President Barack Obama, but they will view officials from Beijing as old friends. Mr. Obama’s visit to Cambodia—this year’s host for ...
Chun Han Wong
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324595904578120582308358540.html
As All Eyes Turn To Cambodia…
Along the Phnom Penh waterfront the city’s landmark flags have been raised and the street children and beggars are being removed – an unwanted sight for a government out to impress the biggest gathering of world leaders this country has ever seen. At the center of this will ...
http://thediplomat.com/asean-beat/2012/11/15/as-the-world-descends-on-cambodia/
Ratch puts mine purchase on hold as coal price dips sharply
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 ...
Sesan Dam Decision Questioned
Cambodia has decided to go ahead with the construction of a dam on a Mekong tributary, but conservation groups are concerned that not enough study has been done on the hydropower project’s environmental consequences. Construction on the 400 megawatt Lower Sesan 2 dam in northwestern Cambodia’s ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/sesan-11142012170421.html
Resettlement Plans Begin for Families Affected by Sesan Dam
Thousand of families that stand to be evicted when construction work on the Lower Sesan 2 Dam begins in 2014 will each receive a 1-hectare plot of land for a home as well as a 5 additional hectares for growing crops, provincial officials said yesterday. Provincial ...
Laos hydro dam upsets Mekong River neighbors
Laos began construction last week on a multi-billion dollar hydro dam project that is opposed by other countries along the Mekong River, and activists who say the project will significantly impact the environment and the economies of four countries that rely on the river for ...
Controversial Pöyry tapped for Xayaburi
Multinational consulting and engineering firm Pöyry has signed a contract with the Lao government to supervise construction of the divisive Xayaburi hydropower dam in the country’s north, it announced Friday. This work, carried out by its Energy Business Group, will include reviewing the design and ...
Benefits from ‘black gold’- Revenue from Cambodian oil fields could provide a big boost to development, if it’s done right
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 ...
Vietnam asks Laos to review impacts of hydropower dam
Viet Nam has urged Laos to continue its research on the environmental impacts of the planned Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River. Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Luong Thanh Nghi made the statement at a regular press briefing in Ha Noi yesterday when answering a question ...
Chinese Company Behind Stung Treng Dam
A Chinese hydropower company, identified as Consultant CECCI, along with Royal Group and Vietnamese power giant Electricity Vietnam International (EVNI), will be in charge of the Lower Sesan 2 dam construction project in Stung Treng province, as well as the relocation of the 5,000 affected ...
Despite Environmental Concerns, Xayaburi Breaks Ground
Lao officials and executives of a Thai construction company conducted a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday in Xayaburi to inaugurate the first dam to be built on the lower mainstream Mekong, putting to one side concerns that the dam could devastate fisheries in Cambodia and Vietnam. Prior to ...
Construction of Lower Sesan Dam in Stung Treng to Start in 2014
Construction of the Lower Sesan 2 Dam in Stung Treng province will begin in 2014 and the government will spend next year relocating some 5,000 people from villages that are located in the dam’s future reservoir area. Located near the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok ...