Singapore-based oil and gas exploration company KrisEnergy Ltd has pumped about 40,788 barrels of crude oil from Cambodian waters, according to Prime Minister Hun Sen on February 1.
This is since the December 28 maiden oil extraction from the offshore Cambodia Block A concession in the Khmer Basin’s Apsara oilfield.
Hun Sen said the PV Drilling III jack-up rig on January 30 began drilling the second well of the five-well “Mini Phase 1A” mini platform.
“I would like to assure our compatriots that our first oilfield has been in operation for 33 days, producing 1,236 barrels a day. In 33 days, 40,788 barrels,” he said. “We will continue to pump oil in 2021.”
If international oil prices remain at around $55 per barrel, the Kingdom could net about $30 million per annum from the commodity, he added, citing predictions from Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem.
“Estimates show that we’ll pump out between 7,000 and 7,500 barrels a day, which is a considerably miniscule volume that won’t leave a profound impact on our economy soon, but it is a good start for the oil and gas industry in Cambodia,” he said.
General Department of Petroleum director-general Cheap Sour confirmed to The Post that KrisEnergy is drilling the remaining four wells of the mini platform to accompany A-01D, the source of the Kingdom’s first drop of oil extracted.
Once completed and commissioned, the five wells could reach a peak rate of approximately 7,500 barrels per day, he said.
“According to the plan, the company will have commissioned another well of the platform by the end of February.”
At the same time, the prime minister also claimed that Cambodia is pushing for negotiations with the Thai side on oil and gas development projects in the long-contested Overlapping Claims Area (OCA) in the Gulf of Thailand.
“We have to bend over backwards to strike negotiations with Thailand. We’ll push for talks with them concerning doing business in the overlapping area,” he said.
Development rights to the 26,000sq km OCA, which overlaps the Cambodian and Thai borders in the Gulf of Thailand, has been a point of contention between the two neighbouring nations, which have claimed the area since the early 1970s.
The OCA is estimated to hold up to 500 million barrels of oil and gas deposits under the seafloor.
