US-based Chevron through its subsidiary Chevron
(Cambodia) Limited has unveiled a business plan to launch more service stations in Cambodia in view of the country’s efforts at joint exploration of the oil reserves with Thailand in the Overlapping Claims Area (OCA).
This was revealed by the Ministry of Mines and Energy after a meeting between its minister Keo Ratanak and Frank Cassulo, Vice President of Chevron in Phnom Penh.
“The US oil company plans to expand the gas station network in Cambodia and support Prime Minister Hun Manet’s policy to solve the oil and gas exploration issue with Thailand based on a win-win policy,” the ministry said in a statement posted on its official Facebook page yesterday.
Khmer Times could not reach the ministry’s spokesman for comments on Thursday.
The firm said in 2021 that its business plan was to expand its service stations in Cambodia by up to 100 stations, citing that it imported petroleum from Thailand and Singapore to supply domestic demand in Cambodia.
Chevron has three million barrels of net oil-equivalent daily production, Frank said in the meeting.
Through its subsidiary, Chevron markets automotive fuels and products under the Caltex brand at 53 service stations at present, 30 of which are in the capital city, Phnom Penh, according to Chevron (Cambodia) Limited’s website.
Of the total number, 17 are company-owned and 36 are owned by retailers.
Chevron’s support for exploring the oil reserves came a week after Prime Minister Hun Manet and his Thai counterpart Srettha Thavisin agreed that the two countries would discuss joint exploitation of energy resources in the Gulf of Thailand.
The OCA covers about 26,000 square kilometres and is estimated to hold up to 500 million barrels of oil and gas deposits under the seafloor.
In 2014, Chevron abandoned its right for oil exploration in Cambodia’s oil Block A, after it found the potential of the offshore oil in 2004, to Singapore-based oil and gas firm KrisEnergy. Reasons for the firm’s decision were reportedly due to the failure of an agreement with the government.
KrisEnergy started pumping crude oil from one of Cambodia’s offshore oilfields, Block A, in late 2020, which was the first crude oil production in the country before the company went bankrupt in 2021, stopping the oil extraction activities.
A report from the General Department of Customs and Excise showed that Cambodia imported $849 million of petroleum oils and $1.32 billion of diesel fuel last year. khmertimeskh
