Cambodian PM to visit, disputed border oil reserves on agenda

Cambodian Prime Minister HM will visit Thailand on Wednesday for official talks expected to include the long-stalled joint development of natural resources within the two countries' disputed maritime boundary. He will meet with Prime MInister Srettha Thavisin at Government House.

The Foreign Ministry and Government House on Monday announced the one-day visit by the Cambodian prime minister, with expansion of a wide range of cooperation on the agenda - from border issues to transport, trade and investment. Expectations are that the two leaders will renew attempts to explore the joint development of the overlapping area in the Gulf of Thailand claimed by both countries.

Mr Srettha said in parliament on Jan 3 that he would raise this issue with his Cambodian counterpart when they next met. The previous government of prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha also tried to end the impasse on the issue, but there was no progress.

Thailand and Cambodia share a 26,600 square kilometre area that overlaps their maritime boundary claims. Thailand and Malaysia agreed in 1979 to jointly exploit oil and gas reserves in the gulf by setting aside their differences in their disputed area. Thailand is looking to its success in negotiations with Malaysia as a model to develop the unsettled marine boundary with Cambodia. So far, the dispute over the sea borderline has prevented any progress.

Two officials who took part in the negotiations between Thailand and Malaysia on joint development more than four decades ago have mixed opinions on the Cambodian issue. One official believed joint development would be impossible as long as the two countries were adamant the marine border must be settled first.

The other official was hopeful for some progress this time. "A decreasing outlook for global oil demand in the long run could be an impetus for them to accelerate their cooperation efforts," the official said. Neither was authorised to talk on the issue and they asked not to be named.

On the land border, Thai ambassador to Cambodia Chertkiat Atthakor said after a meeting in January with Lam Chea, the Cambodian minister in charge of the state secretariat of border affairs, that the two countries hoped for progress on the surveying and demarcation of unpegged areas along the frontier, in line with the policy of their leaders.

"Both sides agreed that a meeting in the near future presented a great opportunity to resolve their border issues together, to transform the border into an area of peace and development in accordance with the visions expresssed by both prime ministers," the Thai embassy said on a Facebook post on Jan 25.

The Pheu Thai Party-led government is keen on increasing trade between the two neighbours. Two-way trade between Thailand and Cambodia was valued at 340 billion baht in 2023, and the two prime ministers agreed during their first meeting in Phnom Penh in September to see it reach 535 billion baht next year.

Two Cambodian activists and a former political prisoner were arrested in Thailand on Friday ahead of the visit by HM. They had planned to hold a protest against the Cambodian leader in Bangkok.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2736591

More from the Thai perspective:

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/maritime-d ... ploration/

“We are sitting on trillion-baht worth of resources. We should be able to negotiate and reach a settlement in our mutual interest and for the well being of the people.”
- Srettha Thavasin

They have been dicking around with this for 20 years. One of the major problems with those blocks is not geography, it is quality of the crude, which is poor. They thought for years just sink a well and let the billions flow into their pockets, but those fields are not that lucrative. You have to mix it with other crude to sell it, and that only becomes a thing when crude is 100 bbl or more. A few companies left or bankrupted out over the years over this mess -- KrisEnergy comes to mind in recent years.

Felgerkarb wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 11:01 pm They have been dicking around with this for 20 years. One of the major problems with those blocks is not geography, it is quality of the crude, which is poor. They thought for years just sink a well and let the billions flow into their pockets, but those fields are not that lucrative. You have to mix it with other crude to sell it, and that only becomes a thing when crude is 100 bbl or more. A few companies left or bankrupted out over the years over this mess -- KrisEnergy comes to mind in recent years.

EDIT: I meant to say 100 USD per bbl.

Cambodia was set to receive about $14 million from the roughly 300,000 barrels salvaged from KrisEnergy's bankrupcty. And that was after the heist on the Greek/Bahamian tanker tranporting the stuff.

https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ ... sale-1421m

I have to question the "70%" slice. I thought they were on a 5% royalty.

canucklhead wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 11:20 am I have to question the "70%" slice. I thought they were on a 5% royalty.

The question I would ask is who get's the rest if KrisEnergy are bankrupt?

......been waiting for this.
I saw survey vessels operating in the disputed maritime zone just before the rainy season set in.



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