Cambodia Welcomes Thai Talks Over Waters

31 August 2011
The Cambodia Daily
Energy
Abhisit Vejjajiva / Cambodia / Dispute / Gas / Gulf of Thailand / Kasit Piromya / oil / Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra / Sompong Sanguanbun / Suthep Thaugsuban / Thailand

Cambodia’s petroleum authority yesterday announced that it would like to renew discussion with Thailand in order to find a solution over disputed waters in the Gulf of Thailand widely believed to hold large quantities of oil and gas. Negotiations over how to split revenue from oil and gas in the overlapping claims area – a disputed zone covering 27,000 square kilometers – hit a low in late 2009 when Cambodia named fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser. After the event, former Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Thailand had decided to revoke a Memorandum of Understanding made in 2011 agreeing to develop the disputed waters.