Energy
Japanese firm awaits approval for oil data collection
Mitsui Oil Exploration Co (Moeco), a Japanese petroleum firm that specializes in natural gas, wants to start conducting seismic operations testing for oil and gas north of the Tonle Sap lake by February 2012 and wrap up the tests by May, according to excerpts of ...
No transparency provisions in draft oil law
After years in the drafting process, a copy of Cambodia’s much-anticipated draft petroleum law obtained this week shows that there are still no provisions governing the public disclosure of payments made to the government by gas and oil companies. Dated February 2010, the draft could still ...
China’s dam plans don’t hold water with panelists
China’s dam-building ambitions and alleged lack of transparency were front and centre yesterday during a roundtable discussion on Mekong River development held in the capital. Representatives from the Chinese embassy defended their country’s record, claiming that China was “eager to participate” in regional cooperation mechanisms. “We aren’t ...
Offshore energy claims open divisions in Southeast Asia
Depending on who you believe, the South China Sea could be the next Persian Gulf due to its untapped oil and gas deposits. It’s also a key shipping lane that the US Navy has guarded for decades. That’s why so many countries are sparring over remote ...
Experts question Thai energy crisis declaration
Although a Thai minister claimed recently that delays in resolving the disputed overlapping claims area with Cambodia would result in an energy crisis, experts said yesterday the statement had been politically motivated. Thai Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said last week Thailand would run out of gas ...
Preah Sihanouk province power plant gets approval
Seventy-one out of 89 National Assembly lawmakers yesterday voted to approve the construction of a coal power plant in Preah Sihanouk province by a company run by CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin and his daughter, and licensed the plant to sell electricity to Electricite du ...
Another power deal for senator
The opposition has raised conflict-of-interest concerns over another agreement headed to the National Assembly today guaranteeing the government will buy electricity from a power plant to be constructed by a company owned by ruling party Senator Lao Meng Khin. However, it was unclear yesterday whether the ...
A threat to Kingdom’s FDI
Tokyo: Cambodia needs more than an estimated US$13 billion in infrastructure works by 2020 if the country intends to continue attracting foreign investment, a joint survey by some of the world’s top financial institutions indicated on Wednesday. During a conference held by the Japan International Cooperation Agency ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101452126/Business/a-threat-to-kingdoms-fdi.html
Cargo growth for Phnom Penh Port reaches 30% in September of 2011
“Cargo transferred to and from the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) is at 121,654.116 tones in September of 2011, increasing 30 percent if comparing to September 2010 with 92,648.796 tones,” according to the report from the PPAP obtained by SEAW on October 3rd. This September report ...
Officials ask for more info ahead of drilling
Environment Minister Mok Mareth yesterday asked China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to provide more details on the environmental impact of its project, though he said that exploration for oil and gas would likely begin later this month. At a meeting at the Ministry of Environment, ...
Petroleum engineers to provide support to Cambodia
At a Sept 11 meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and Ganesh C. Thakur, President of the U.S.-based Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), plans were discussed about the SPE providing training and expertise for the Kingdom’s oil and gas sector, according to a statement ...
Thais to reconsider oil MoU
Cambodian officials yesterday welcomed statements from Thailand’s foreign minister that an all-important 2001 memorandum of understanding on the Overlapping Claims Area would most likely be renewed. Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul said the MoU would be sent to Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s cabinet on October 18 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100551947/Business/thais-to-reconsider-oil-mou.html
Ongpin’s Atok buys Hong Kong company
Atok-Big Wedge Co. Inc., a listed company owned by the group of former Trade minister Roberto Ongpin, acquired Tidemark Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong company that owns 25.9 percent of Forum Energy Plc, an oil and gas firm controlled by Philex Mining Corp. Atok-Big Wedge said ...
China IPO to benefit Kingdom
China’s Sinohydro Group Ltd earned US$2.12 billion in an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the company announced yesterday. The move came just two months before Sinohydro launches the Kamchay Hydroelectric Dam in Cambodia’s Kampot province. The company expects the IPO to help fund ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011093051879/Business/china-ipo-to-benefit-kingdom.html
Oil-claims talks 'highly likely'
Thailand is reportedly preparing to re-enter negotiations with Cambodia on the Overlapping Claims Area after officials from the two countries talked this week at the ASEAN Energy Business Forum in Brunei. Thai Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said yesterday that he met informally with Ministry of Industry ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011092351817/Business/oil-claims-talks-highly-likely.html
Payout for swept-away workers
The company constructing a dam in Koh Kong province, where seven workers were swept away in floodwaters earlier this month, has paid US$1,000 to the families of each of the men for funeral expenses, but is denying responsibility for the incident, an official said yesterday. Sok ...
PM talks gas and oil with Thai assembly head
Prime Minister Hun Sen held talks with President of the Thai National Assembly Somsak Kiatsuranot in the capital yesterday, paving the way for the extraction of contested oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Thailand Yesterday’s talks between Hun Sen and Somsak focused on restoring ...
Families file complaint over missing dam workers
Three families have lodged complaints against China National Heavy Machinery Co after a storm at the company’s hydropower dam project in Koh Kong province on September 10 swept away a group of workers, leaving two dead and five missing, rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Neang Boratino, ...
Villagers plan to walk to capital
Tractors carried members of 50 families from Lor Peang village in Kampong Chhnang province’s Kampong Tralach district to the provincial courthouse early yesterday morning, where their hopes faded as they waited for court officials to accept their latest complaint against a company they accuse of ...
Eight workers lost in deluge at dam site
Eight workers at the Stung Tatay hydro project, in Koh Kong province, are presumed dead after being swept away by floodwaters on Sunday. Seven of the men drowned while trying to rescue a colleague who had fainted after floodwaters swept over a bridge, stranding him at ...
Chinese company given license to go for gold in Kratie
The government has given a Chinese mining company the right to extract gold from 28 square km of land in Kratie province’s Sambor district, a provincial official said yesterday. On July 5, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy granted Hing Yuan Hanng Yeak Co Ltd ...
Xayaburi dam may cause earthquakes: Vietnamese report
The Xayaburi dam project in Northern Laos might increase the probability of earthquakes in a region already prone to seismic activity, according to a recently translated report from Vietnam. The 1260-megawatt project sits about 100 kilometres south of the Lai Chau-Dien fault line. Construction activity on the ...
Bio-fuelled power plant to go online
A rice-husk powered power plant will officially open in Kampong Speu at the end of the year, set to provide electricity to the district’s rice millers, according to officials from operator Golden Rice Cambodia. The US$2 million generator is set to supply power to all of ...
Yingluck adds fuel to gas talks
Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Cambodian National Petroleum Association Sok An has called for the resumption of talks with Thailand over the disputed overlapping claims area in the Gulf of Thailand, believed to be rich in oil and natural-gas reserves. The oil industry had ...