Oil production to commence from next year: Cambodia PM

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Tuesday that the country will begin extracting oil from the sea by December next year.

"We will exploit oil from the seabed from Dec. 12, 2012," he said during an inauguration ceremony of a 900-meter sea-spanning bridge in Preah Sihanouk province.

The prime minister did not give details of the oil production.

Last month, the government of Cambodia awarded a Cambodia's petrochemical company to study the feasibility of building an oil refinery with annual capacity of 5 million tons in Preah Sihanouk province by 2012.

At that time, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, also chairman of Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, said the U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp. has completed its oil and gas exploration in Cambodia's sea Block A, covering 4,709 square kilometers, and now the firm is planning 600 million U.S. dollars to exploit oil and gas from the sea.

Cambodia expects to earn 200 million U.S. dollars from oil and gas sector by 2013.

xinhuanet

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