Cambodia To Resume Oil Talks With Thailand

Photo: Sok An (R), Oil Rig Off Kampong Som Coast (L)

Cambodia Confirms To Resume Oil, Gas Talks With Thailand

PHNOM PENH -(Dow Jones)- Cambodia is willing to resume long-delayed talks with Thailand over joint development of oil and gas resources in disputed waters, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said Thursday.
"We are also happy to resume the talks. We expect for the new talks, we will get a good result," Sok An told reporters at an investment conference in Phnom Penh.
His comments come after Thailand's Mineral Fuels department earlier this month said talks with Cambodia are likely to resume early next year.
Cambodia and Thailand have long been at odds over exploration and development in areas of the Gulf of Thailand that they both claim. A deal appeared imminent in 1997, but plans were scrapped because of the Asian economic crisis.
Sok An, a powerful figure in Cambodia who also heads the government's council of ministers, or Cabinet, said Cambodia can't afford to not extract its petroleum resources.
"We can't let the resources stay under the sea. We need all these resources for the development of the country," he said.
Both countries believe the disputed exploration areas could contain abundant gas and oil reserves, as they are located close to productive fields.
-By Stephen Wright, Dow Jones Newswires; 66 89 926 5022; stephen.wright@ dowjones.com