The Cambodian Ministry of Mines and Energy and Thailand’s giant conglomerate PTT have signed a cooperation agreement to strengthen Cambodia’s technical knowledge in the oil and gas sector.
According to Meng Saktheara, secretary of state at the ministry, the agreement was signed between Cheap Sour, the Ministry of Mines and Energy director general of petroleum, and Tevin Vongvanich, president and CEO of PTT, in Bangkok on Monday.
“The agreement will be another momentum to develop Cambodia’s oil and gas industry utilising the experience and knowledge from PTT,” said Saktheara. “At the same time Cambodia also expects to attract more investment from Thailand in its fledgling oil and gas sector.”
Saktheara said the cooperation agreement would mainly focus on knowledge-sharing on the development of downstream petrochemical products. The downstream products of PTT include a variety of products ranging from polymer and resin, ethylene oxide and related products, oleo-chemical and bio-based chemical, aromatics, and other specialties.
He said the agreement would also pave the way for Thai investors to invest in the Kingdom’s oil and gas sector. “Thai companies will be welcomed to assess our potential in the oil and gas sector and on our side we will facilitate their investments,” said Saktheara. “Of course, I do hope that it will also pave the way for us get more opportunities to gain more technical knowledge and experience from Thai companies.”
According to Suthn Chootian, managing director of PTT (Cambodia), PTT has three stations for pumping jet fuel and 35 gas stations in Cambodia. By 2020, PTT wants to increase its petrol stations to 90, from the current 35, and also set up at least 120 new Cafe Amazon outlets. In Cambodia, Amazon cafes are found at PTT petrol stations and the first outlet was set up in 2013.
Cambodia expects to pump oil from its offshore fields by the end of 2018 or early 2019, after a six-year delay. The kingdom’s draft petroleum law is due to be approved by the Council of Ministers by the end of the year.
