By Watcharapong Thongrung
The Nation
Published on November 4, 2009
(Posted by CAAI News Media)
The Mineral Fuels Department says Thailand and Vietnam's solution for the problem of overlapping sea territory is also best for a similar problem between the Kingdom and Cambodia regarding oil and gas exploration.
Director-general Kurujit Nakornthap said the model would benefit Cambodia more than other solutions would.
Thailand and Vietnam agreed to divide the overlapping area, with Thailand owning 67 per cent and Vietnam 33 per cent.
Kurujit said with a similar division between Thailand and Cambodia, the latter could enter into joint-venture agreements with private concessionaires and gain full technology transfers from them on its own without needing to discuss the matter with Thailand.
Thailand also solved a similar problem with Malaysia by setting up a joint juristic organisation to develop the entire area and share the benefits evenly. That area has been found to contain natural-gas reserves of 10 trillion cubic feet.
Kurujit said the problem of the overlapping territory between Thailand and Cambodia, amounting to 26,000 square kilometres, should be resolved quickly, as that would afford benefits to both countries in terms of gas-field development.
If the problem is prolonged indefinitely, both countries would lose business opportunities if other sources of energy, such as wind and solar power, became popular and inexpensive to produce in the interim. This would make the value of Thailand's existing but as-yet-untapped natural resources decline.
Thailand has already set up a committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban to solve this problem, but the two countries have yet to reach a conclusion. Meanwhile, neither one can allow companies holding concessions for oil and gas exploration in the area to operate.
Thailand granted rights to private companies to explore in the area in 1971, but a 1975 Cabinet resolution suspended exploration after learning it overlapped with Cambodia's territory.
Cambodia has also granted exploration rights to private companies, including Total.
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