Cambodian oil reserves
Cambodia – Oil & Gas Reserves RESOURCE-POOR CAMBODIA imports every drop of its oil and supplies power to only 15% of its population. So it is with more than a small twinge of yearning that the country looks offshore, to the Gulf of Thailand wherein lie oil and gas reserves that one geologist has called "the cream of the crop. ... Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen says that joint development--giving blocks claimed by both countries to a single company to exploit and share the product--is the only way to proceed. ... Oil and gas blocks are another matter. ... 73 is about 100 metres south--that is, into Cambodian territory--of where it should be. ... Japanese and British firms drilling on the Cambodian edge of the disputed area found gas and condensate in 1994. This encouraged other firms to bid for rights in Cambodian waters, if only to establish their presence in the area while awaiting resolution of the dispute. ... When in 1998 Thailand signed with Vietnam to divvy up the overlapping gas and oil blocks in the Gulf of Thailand, including those claimed by Cambodia, Hun Sen protested. ... Long Visalo, the Cambodian Foreign Ministrys principal negotiator on border issues, says Cambodia cannot simply give away its sovereign rights.