At an August 21 meeting Cambodian and Vietnamese officials agreed to cooperate in

exploring Cambodia's recently discovered offshore oil reserves.

The Cambodian government said that although the sea borders have not been finalized

between the two countries, investigating the oil and gas reserves jointly for the

purposes of business would still go ahead, particularly as Vietnam has considerable

experience in the field.

This follows an August 10 agreement with Thailand to a 50-50 sharing of oil reserves

in the contested sea border area between the two countries. Cambodian-Thai sea borders

are set to be finalized within six months. Cambodian offshore drilling is anticipated

to begin by 2008.