Wednesday, 5 November 2008

Chevron Is Not Clear about Oil Exploitation - Tuesday, 4.11.2008

Posted on 5 November 2008

The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 583

“Phnom Penh: Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, the minister of the Council of Ministers, reported to the International Monetary Fund – IMF – that the government has not received any answer from Chevron about which year the oil exploitation will start.

“In the morning of 3 November 2008 at the Council of Ministers, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An met with a delegation from the IMF, led by Mr. David Cowen, Senior Economist, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific of the IMF.

“During the meeting, Mr. David Cowen asked about oil exploration and exploitation in Cambodia, and about the concessions granted for other mineral resources.

“Mr. Pen Ngoeun, an advisor of the Council of Ministers, reported to journalists after the meeting that the IMF does not know the quantity of oil and of gas in Cambodia, and they wanted to know when the exploitation will start.

“Mr. Sok An told the IMF that there are some positive points related to oil exploitation in the Cambodian sea. A concession has been granted to the US company Chevron, and we expect that oil will be extracted in the future. However, after Chevron will have an estimate of the expected quantity of oil , it has to negotiate with the Ministry of Economy and Finance regarding the tax system – how much benefit Cambodia will receive, and how much Chevron. An agreement has not yet been made. Mr. Sok An added that the Royal Government will try to encourage the negotiations in order to reach an agreement, but this negations are really complicated.

“When an agreement is reached with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Chevron must produce a basic plan how to develop the oil exploitation.

“Mr. Sok An went on to say that Chevron has not responded to questions about the specific time for the exploitation; it had informed the government that it will start in 2010, then maybe in 2011, and then maybe in 2012.

“Related to concession for other minerals, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said that there are two stages, and some companies have reached the second stage. The first stage is to sign a memorandum of understanding between the Royal Government and an investing company to conduct an exploration, and to check with air plane mounted cameras which areas might have mineral resources; at present, there are five big companies operating such investigations.

“At that occasion, there was also discussion about the meltdown of the world economy and its effects on the Cambodian economy.

“Mr. Sok An asked the IMF delegation for their forecast about the effects on the Cambodian economy. According to the IMF, Cambodia has three leading sectors contributing to economic growth: the textile industry, tourism, and agriculture. The textile sector and tourism will be affected by the global economic crisis. As for the agriculture, the IMF assessed that there might be two effects – first, the rising price of the dollar makes purchasers from Cambodia to face a crisis, so that more expensive products will be less purchased from Cambodia which might reduce foreign investments. Therefore, according to this estimation, the Cambodia economic growth might be only 7% this year and next year.

“Also, the IMF delegation expressed interest in the salaries of civil servants, which are smaller than in other countries, which results in the inability of Cambodian civil servants to achieve a higher productivity. The IMF suggested that Cambodia should reform the administration, so that civil servants can achieve a better productivity when receiving higher salaries.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4723, 4.11.2008
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Tuesday, 4 November 2008

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