Talks over the 300,000 barrels of crude stolen by oil tanker MT Strovolos are progressing.

The update was shared during a talk on the Oil, Gas and Power Cambodia 2022 Expo, co-hosted by Gas Academy Pte. Ltd and the Ministry of Mines and Energy yesterday.

Crude oil that KrisEnergy pumped from Block A in Cambodian waters was smuggled out in June 2021 before the vessel was seized by the Indonesian Navy at the request of Cambodian authorities.

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Cambodia expects to get crude oil stolen as progressive
talks have taken place, said Cheap Sour, the ministry’s director general of petroleum.

“To date, the stakeholders, representatives of KrisEnergy, MT Strovolos and representatives of the Cambodian side have reached a settlement to coordinate the interests of all parties,” Sour said.

“As for the negotiation, it showed many positives, and we hope the issue will be resolved in the near future,” Sour added.

Since being seized by the Indonesian Navy, World Tankers Management, licensing the tanker MT Strovolos, immediately denied stealing the crude oil and demanded that Indonesia release its crew.

Cambodia has discovered commercial oil resources in its Block A waters, which is commercially viable and received the first drop of its oil on December 29, 2020.

In the opening speech of the event, Suy Sem, Minister of Mines and Energy, said that the government encourages local and foreign investors to consider investing in the oil and gas sectors.

Cambodia has had geological surveys conducted by international oil companies such as Elf, Esso, Enterprise Oil, PTT, Premier Oil, Chevron, PVEP, JOGMEC and MOECO, he said.

“The Cambodian government has encouraged the private sector, both domestically and internationally, to increase downstream investments, such as oil refining, oil importation, catering, transportation and distribution of oil and petroleum products in order to ensure sufficient supply of oil and gas to consumers and the development of other sectors,” said Sem.

According to a study by the Economic Research Institute for Southeast and East Asia (ERIA), the demand for petroleum products in Cambodia will increase from 2.8 million tons in 2020 to 4, 8 million tonnes by 2030 and will continue to increase to reach 8.3 million tonnes in 2040. Further investment is needed in the sector to meet demand.

• Key words: crude oil, MT Strovolos