(Phnom Penh / Bangkok News) Thailand and Cambodia are exploring the establishment of a joint oil and natural gas development zone in the seas where the two countries have sovereignty disputes.
The Thai National News reported that the Thai government reported that Thailand Deputy Prime Minister Bavi disclosed at the Cabinet Conference on Tuesday (January 3) that he had discussed the establishment of oil and gas with the Minister of Mining and Energy in Cambodia last year.Combined with the development zone.
The seas with sovereignty disputes are located in the border between Cambodia and Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand. Since the 1970s, it has been the focus of debate between the two countries.The sea area is 26,000 square kilometers, and the joint development zone accounts for 16,000 square meters of them. It is expected to have as many as 500 million barrels of oil and natural gas reserves.
Bavavi said at the cabinet meeting that due to global oil prices rising, Sui Sen also agreed that the idea of establishing a joint development zone in the seas with sovereign disputes.They all agree that joint development of oil and gas can help the energy resources of the two countries self -sufficient, and can also stimulate the development of related industries.
However, Sui Sen is willing to promote this project. When the two countries sign a joint development agreement, the border issues cannot be included in it.
Sources revealed that the Thai cabinet has agreed to set up a committee to supervise the joint development zone, and the Thai -Cambodian joint development zone will take the Thai -Malaysian joint development zone as the model.
Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding of joint exploration activities in the seas of sovereign disputes as early as 2001, but it was planned to be put on hold by the Thai government in 2009.Later, the two parties repeatedly called for restarting negotiations to establish a joint development zone, but each negotiation did not make much progress.
Nowadays, as global oil and gas demand and prices have soared, and the global economy has gradually recovered after a major epidemic, and the Russian and Ukraine War has caused the energy crisis, this negotiation may have different turns.
The Bangkok Post reported last August that Concore, Secretary -General of the Thai Energy Regulatory Commission, believes that Thai and Cambodia decision makers should be frank during the negotiations and formulate a clear direction for the establishment of a joint development zone in the seas of sovereign disputes.
Concore recommends that Thailand ensures that more natural gas supply is used for power generation, because the decline in natural gas supply in the Persian Gulf region will lead to more and more expensive liquefaction natural gas.
The State Secretary of the Ministry of Mining and Energy of Cambodia Monasala said last August that due to oil and other natural resources, the government's political and economic considerations will make the negotiations of the joint development zone "very complicated."He confirmed that although the leaders of the two countries called for the project as soon as possible, the negotiations did not make any progress.
