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.