Gulf talks with Cambodia and oil-concession bids pushed back

September 3, 2012
WATCHARAPONG THONGRUNG
THE NATION

Two items on the government's energy agenda - preparations for talks with Cambodia on a solution to the countries' overlapping claims in the Gulf of Thailand and the plan to open a 21st round of bidding for petroleum exploration and production concessions - are likely to be delayed until next year.

The government had planned to finish its preparations for the negotiations next month and send them to the Cabinet and Parliament for approval. However, completion of the preparations might be postponed until next year, as the government does not want to run the risk of the opposition raising the issues in the upcoming censure debate, an Energy Ministry source said.

Songpope Polachan, director-general of the Department of Mineral Fuels, said both countries would benefit from the development of natural gas fields in the overlapping 26,000 square-kilometre area if they can solve the problem quickly.

Chevron ramps up $3.1 billion Thailand gas project

Monday, October 24, 2011
By Steven E.F. Brown, Web Editor
San Francisco Business Times

Platong and the other lease areas -- named Erawan, Satun, Funan, Banpot, Plamuk, Yala and Pla Daeng -- are along a rough north-south line to the west of another area where Cambodia and Thailand have disputing claims going back to 1972.

Chevron Corp. has started producing natural gas at its $3.1 billion Platong II project in the Gulf of Thailand.

San Ramon-based Chevron (NYSE: CVX) hopes to produce some 330 million cubic feet per day from the project, as well as about 18,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids.

In 2008, Chevron had guessed Platong II might produce up to 420 million cubic feet per day. It also said back then that it hoped to have the project up and running by the first quarter of 2011.

The leases on this project are in the center of the gulf bounded by Thailand on the north and west and Cambodia and Vietnam on the east. Chevron picked up Unocal contracts in the area when it bought Unocal in 2005. Those leases from the Thai government were set to expire in 2012 but in 2008 they were extended to 2022.

Cambodia seeks to resume talks with Thailand about disputed oil and gas zone

30 August 2011

PHNOM PENH (BNO NEWS) -- Cambodia is looking to resume talks with neighboring Thailand to resolve overlapping maritime claims in the Gulf of Thailand, the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Cambodian government body said it has "a firm commitment to finding an equitable and transparent resolution" to the overlapping claims area which consists of a 27,000 square kilometers (10,425 square miles) stretch of seabed which is considered rich in oil and gas.

"The [government] would welcome the resumption of open and official negotiation on this issue and will pursue such a course as soon as practicable," the statement added.

[Thailand] Controversial policies may do long-term damage

August 19, 2011
By Thanong Khanthong
The Nation

The Pheu Thai government has introduced several controversial economic policies.

Let me go through them one by one.

1. Most people don't notice that an offshore oil deal is on the cards. Fugitive ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen are now trying to strike an offshore oil deal. The defence minister, the foreign minister and the energy minister have got a mandate to work with Cambodia on offshore oil operations in the Gulf of Thailand. The change of government from Democrat to Pheu Thai has facilitated this business deal. Chevron, the US oil company, is waiting in the wings for this project.

This oil production will take place in the overlapping maritime area as a joint operation between Thailand, Cambodia and the United States. However, offshore oil drilling is now very risky, given the frequent occurence earthquakes and natural disasters. Shell is now trying to control an oil spill in the North Sea. BP created a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico a year ago. A court in Ecuador earlier this year fined Chevron US$8 billion for polluting the Amazon region.

The oil giants have bad records in offshore drilling when it comes to safety and care for the environment. Any monetary compensation cannot write off the massive damage being done to the environment. If a huge oil spill were to happen in the Gulf of Thailand, it would spell doom for Pattaya, Hua Hin and other resort areas along our coast. Thailand's tourism industry would basically come to a grinding halt.

Oil deal: Thaksin to visit Cambodia

August 17, 2011
THE NATION

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will visit Cambodia late this week to meet with leaders and investors in Phnom Penh, notably on an oil-and-gas concession in the Gulf of Thailand where claims overlap, a Pheu Thai Party source said yesterday.

Thaksin, who is expected to be in the country for two days from August 19 on Friday and Saturday, will take some foreign investors to meet and play golf with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Defence Minister Tea Banh to make the business deal, the source said.

Many Pheu Thai MPs are preparing to greet Thaksin while he is in Cambodia, the source said.

Thaksin will help negotiate with Cambodia on a plan for joint development of a petroleum venture in the Gulf of Thailand where both countries claim the rights. He wants state-run PTT to have a stake in the oil-and-gas concession or enter a joint venture with Cambodia, the source said.

Thailand, Cambodia Restart Talks on Overlapping Natural Gas Claims

Saturday, 06 August 2011
By. Joao Peixe, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com

While international attention has largely focused on China’s disputes with its neighbors the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei over the offshore riches of the contested Spratly islands, other energy maritime disputes are roiling Southeastern Asian waters.

The Thai government is preparing to revive talks with Cambodia on overlapping petroleum claims in the Gulf of Thailand, which have been deadlocked since 2006. Thailand and Cambodia share an area in the Gulf of Thailand that encompasses more than 10,000 square miles in the “Overlapping Claims Area,” or (OCA), The Bangkok Post reported.

Thailand and Cambodia are also in dispute over a land frontier surrounding the location of the boundary on the precipice surmounted by Preah Vihear temple ruins, awarded to Cambodia by an International Court of Justice decision in 1962 and part of a planned UN World Heritage site.

Border row set to test Yingluck's leadership

Hun Sen: ‘Pheu Thai win marks new era’

9/07/2011
Thanida Tansubhapol
Bangkok Post

It has been widely speculated that Thai-Cambodian relations will bloom again now the Pheu Thai Party has won the election and is taking the helm of government.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has made it clear that Pheu Thai's victory will improve ties between Thailand and his country.

He said the election outcome marked the start of "a new era of cooperation" and differences between the countries should be resolved peacefully.

The Thai-Cambodian relationship has had more downs than ups over the past two years since the Democrats took office in December 2008. Ties went rapidly downhill in 2009 when Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic adviser.

Officials reject Thai group's claims over French oil deal

Monday, 03 August 2009
Sebatian Strangio
The Phnom Penh Post

But protests highlight the challenges of drilling for oil in disputed areas.

CAMBODIAN officials have dismissed Thai protesters' claims that a recent oil exploration agreement between Cambodia and French oil giant Total is a violation of Thai sovereignty, saying Cambodia has the right to award exploration rights inside the Gulf of Thailand's 27,000-square-kilometre overlapping claims area (OCA).

During Prime Minister Hun Sen's visit to France last month, officials announced an agreement offering Total the exploration rights to a 2,430-square-kilometre block - known as Area III - that sits inside the OCA.

According to Thai media reports, the People's Assembly of Thailand (PAT), a nationalist advocacy group, wrote to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Thursday to criticise the government and the armed forces for not taking action to head off the deal, which they said infringes on Thai territory.

A copy of the letter was also reportedly sent to the French Embassy in Bangkok.

Var Kimhong, Cambodia's top border negotiator, said he had not seen the Thai letter, but that Cambodia had the right to award exploration rights as it saw fit.

"The Thai authorities have nothing to do with the block we have given to Total," he said. "It is under Cambodian sovereignty."

However, the letter raises questions about future exploration of the OCA, including Area III. Bangkok has also allocated the zone, which it refers to as B10 and B11, to US oil company Chevron and Japan's Mitsui.

Jean-Pierre Labbe, general manager of Total EP Cambodge, told the Post in July that Total would sign a 10-year conditional petroleum agreement for Area III, the terms of which would prevent the company from undertaking any explorations until a resolution was reached with Thailand over the ownership of the zone.

On Thursday, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Vimol Kidchop said similarly that any company operating inside the OCA would "not be allowed to explore or develop petroleum resources ... unless Thailand and Cambodia successfully resolve the dispute".

Joint development?
Past cases may offer a way forward with the OCA. In 2000, the governments of Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe signed an agreement for the joint development of a disputed 35,000-square-kilometre maritime zone after failing to reach an agreement on border delimitation.

According to a paper presented at an International Oil and Gas Conference, held in Cambodia in March 2008, the two countries "agreed to work together to develop the area and to benefit from any oil or gas discoveries that are made".

Labbe said he expected some form of joint development agreement would be required between Cambodia and Thailand, rather than a strict geographical division of the OCA. But he said it was unclear whether the countries would be able to reach such an agreement.

Thitinan Ponsudhirak, a political analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, described the issue as a "follow-on" to the standoff over Preah Vihear temple and said that the dispute was unlikely to be resolved soon.

"[The OCA issue] is held hostage to Thai-Cambodian relations, and Thai-Cambodian relations are rocky at the moment," he said by phone.

Labbe said negotiations between the two countries had been set back by the coup that removed former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006, but he remained optimistic that the OCA issue would soon be resolved.

"Every time there is a meeting... they discuss the issue positively," he said last month.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STEVE FINCH

Vietnamese, Cambodian Navies on joint patrol

28/11/2008
VNA (Hanoi)

The E naval region of the Vietnamese Navy and the Ream naval base of the Royal Cambodian Navy have completed three joint patrols in the waters and sea borders of the Gulf of Thailand.

During the patrols, both sides strictly abided by joint-patrol regulations, contributing to ensuring public order and security in the historic, bordering seas and creating advantageous conditions for people from the two countries to share in one another’s cultures and economies and to go fishing in the region.

So far, the E naval region and the Ream naval base have utlised their communication channels to exchange information and jointly address any issues that may arise.

The two sides also cooperated in sea rescue training, cultural exchanges, and sports with the aim of strengthening solidarity, as well as the mutual confidence, understanding and respect.

The two navies are in a state of readiness to carry out further joint patrols in the future.

Chevron Corp. to start work on big Gulf of Thailand gas project

Monday, March 10, 2008
By Steven E.F. Brow
East Bay Business Times

Chevron Corp. and two partners will start work on a $3.1 billion natural gas project in the Gulf of Thailand.

David O'Reilly, Chevron's chairman and CEO, traveled to Bangkok in late October to extend leases the San Ramon company picked up when it bought Unocal in 2005.

Now the company will begin building the Platong Gas II project, which should start working in the first quarter of 2011. It will put out about 420 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Chevron hopes eventually to boost gas production from its leases in this area to 1 billion cubic feet per day. The leases are in the center of the gulf bounded by Thailand on the north and west and Cambodia and Vietnam on the east. The Unocal contracts from the Thai government were set to expire in 2012 and have now been extended to 2022.

Platong and the other lease areas -- named Erawan, Satun, Funan, Banpot, Plamuk, Yala and Pla Daeng -- are along a rough north-south line to the west of another area where Cambodia and Thailand have disputing claims going back to 1972.

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) shares the leases with Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. and PTT Exploration and Production Public Co. Chevron has a 69.8 percent stake in the Platong Gas II project, and is also its operator. Along with its venture partners, Chevron, which has about 180 platforms in the gulf, has paid about $3.5 billion in royalties to Thailand since 1981.

Chevron has 195 platforms in the Gulf of Thailand producing both oil and natural gas.

Chevron given 10-year extension off Thailand's coast [-Cambodia and Thailand have oil disputing claims going back to 1972]

Monday, October 29, 2007
East Bay Business Times

Chevron Corp. has received a 10-year extension for natural gas production in the Gulf of Thailand.

San Ramon-based Chevron (NYSE: CVX) has interests ranging from 60 percent to 80 percent on former Unocal leases in the center of the gulf bounded by Thailand on the north and west and Cambodia and Vietnam on the east. The leases from the Thai government expired in 2012 and have now been extended to 2022.

Chevron, which bought El Segundo-based Unocal in 2005, hopes to eventually boost natural gas production from these leases to 1 billion cubic feet per day.

David O'Reilly, Chevron's chairman and CEO, traveled to Bangkok for a ceremony surrounding the deal.

Chevron shares the leases with Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. and PTT Exploration and Production Public Co. Along with its venture partners, Chevron, which has about 180 platforms in the gulf, has paid about $3.5 billion in royalties to Thailand since 1981.

These leases -- for blocks 10, 11, 12 and 13 in areas named Erawan, Satun, Funan, Banpot, Plamuk, Yala, Pla Daeng and Platong -- are along a rough north-south line to the west of another area where Cambodia and Thailand have disputing claims going back to 1972.