Fillon’s visit payoff: French Total receives oil exploration concession

Fillon, tu n'es qu'un F-I-L-O-U!

05 July 2011
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Soch

The ministry of Economic and Finance indicated that the Cambodian government handed out an oil exploration concession to the French Total company. The concession is located inside the overlap sea between Cambodia and Thailand. In return, Total promises to provide social funds for the development of that zone [KI-Media note: social funds are nothing more than under the table corruption money provided to the Hun Xen’s regime]. The spokesman for the ministry of Economic and Finance indicated that Yves Lebail, the deputy-director of Total and the regional deputy director of Total in Cambodia, Vietnam and China, met with Comrade Keat Chhon, the minister of Economic and Finance, in Phnom Penh on 01 July 2011 to discuss the cooperation and the investment for oil exploration in Cambodia, as well as to discuss about social funds provided by the Total company. The ministry official said that the Cambodian government and Total are determined to use these oil social funds for social developments that serve the interest of the Cambodian people [KI-Media note: meaning these social funds will be used to grease the corrupt Hun Xen’s regime officials]

Cambodia Awards French Total Oil Search Rights ... as a payback for Sarko's favor to Hun Xen?

Cambodia Awards French Total Oil Search Rights - Government Official

July 20, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP)--Cambodia has granted French company Total S.A. (TOT) oil exploration rights in one of its offshore blocks in the Gulf of Thailand, a senior government official said Monday.

Prime Minister Hun Sen told French leaders of the decision to allow Total to drill "block III" during a visit to Paris earlier this month, said Prak Sokhon, secretary of state for the Council of Ministers.

"The government decided to grant Total the rights after lengthy consideration of requests from four big companies," Prak Sokhon said after he accompanied the Cambodian premier to the French capital.

He said Prime Minister Francois Fillon had thanked his Cambodian counterpart for the award.

Cambodia expects to begin oil production in 2011, a senior energy official has said.

Oil was discovered in 2005 by U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp. (CVX), the most active of several firms exploring in six blocks off the country's coast.

But Prime Minister Hun Sen warned that it was "highly premature" to estimate how much oil Cambodia might hold in undersea reserves.

Concerns have also been raised over how Cambodia - one of the world's most corrupt countries - would use its new-found oil and gas wealth.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: July 14, 2009's Parade

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Pays à vendre - Country for sale: Now you know why Hun Sen is invited to visit Paris

Prime Minister Hun Sen (left) shakes hands Monday with French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris. AFP

Total awarded energy concession, says govt

Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Kay Kimsong
The Phnom Penh Post

Announcement during Hun Sen’s official government visit follows years of negotiations with French oil company

CAMBODIA has awarded French oil giant Total the rights to a contested drilling area in the Gulf of Thailand.

The announcement was contained in a press release dated July 14 - Bastille Day - from Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cabinet during his official visit to France.

The statement was confirmed to the Post by Prak Sokhon, secretary of state for the Council of Ministers, who is in France with Hun Sen.

Both Thailand and Cambodia claim a 27,000 square kilometre swath of the seabed, which is thought to be rich in oil and gas deposits.

The area in the press statement that has been awarded to Total is referred to as Block III.

In the statement, Hun Sen said the decision to award the concession was made after proper overview of bidding documents, adding that he welcomed the presence of any French companies wishing to invest in Cambodia, a former French colony.

The news was a surprise to Total's leading upstream executive in Cambodia, Jean-Pierre Labbe.

Last week he told the Post that Total had been negotiating with Phnom Penh for several years and in 2008 submitted an official request for concessions.

Contacted by phone on Tuesday, Labbe said he had not heard an official response from the government on the bid.

"I don't know. We knew the Cambodian Prime Minister [Hun Sen] is visiting France, but we have no feedback from Paris," he said.

A source at the Council of Ministers, who asked not to be named, said it was likely that Total's bid had come up in discussions in Paris, but was unable to provide detailed information and referred all questions to the prime minister's Cabinet.

Hun Sen is accompanied on his trip by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

The director general of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA), Te Duong Tara, hung up when called about the issue, saying he was too busy to comment.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner reportedly welcomed the announcement.

Multiple concessions

Stephane Dion, managing director of Total Cambodge, told the Post during an interview last week that the firm was in ongoing discussions with Phnom Penh on offshore and onshore concessions for oil and gas exploration.

"[There are] at two different projects that we are interested in," he said at the time.

Minister Hun Sen left on Thursday for a five-day visit to France at the invitation of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The trip was aimed at boosting ties between the two countries. "This visit is to strengthen cooperation between Cambodia and France," said Koy Kuong, a spokesman for Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STEVE FINCH

Begging and Sale of Bloc III to Total is on the agenda ... Oui, Monsieur!

Cambodia, France to strengthen relations, cooperation

Hun Sen said Cambodia had granted French oil company Total to exploit oil exploration in Block III, one of its potential oil and gas resources in the Gulf of Thailand with which France welcomed it and expressed its satisfaction

PHNOM PENH, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and France have pledged to strengthen their both diplomatic relations and commercial cooperation between the two countries, according to a press statement released here Wednesday by the Cabinet of the Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The statement said Bernard Kouchner, foreign minister of France during his talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, has vowed to strengthen the two countries' relations by proposing a set up as soon as possible a Cambodia-France Joint Committee so as to consolidate the relations and cooperation.

And in addition to consideration on additional financial assistance to Cambodia, France had also pledged to grant more graduate scholarships to Cambodian students, it added.

Hun Sen was on a five-day official visit to France during which he had held a series of meetings and talks including Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Prime Minister Francois Fillon and President Nicolas Sarkozy.

While meetings with those French leaders, Hun Sen said Cambodia had granted French oil company Total to exploit oil exploration in Block III, one of its potential oil and gas resources in the Gulf of Thailand with which France welcomed it and expressed its satisfaction.

Hun Sen left the country on July 9 for an official visit to France and Britain where he will attend his son's graduation ceremony and he is expected to return home on Sunday.