Chevron To Drill Another 10 Wells - Prospects Good for Commercial Production.

US major Chevron Corp. will assess the scope of its offshore Cambodia oil find early next year, raising hopes for the country's first production by 2008. Chevron will drill six appraisal wells and four more exploration ones in early 2006 after discovering oil or gas in five of the six wells it drilled in Cambodia's Gulf of Thailand over the last two years. If the findings are positive, oil production may commence as early as 2008. he told an industry conference. The joint-venture exploring Cambodia's Block A announced earlier this year it had found oil and was studying the economic viability of the find. The block is believed to be the impoverished country's first significant oil discovery. The find, called the Khmer Trough, may hold as much as 400 million barrels of crude and 3-5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.An oil and gas find would bring vital revenues for the resource-poor nation and should help lower electricity prices by providing a source of indigenous fuel. Cambodia has also signed a number of new exploration agreements in an effort to join its neighbors, who have been pumping oil and gas from the Gulf of Thailand for years. Block A, in which Chevron has a 55 percent stake, is the country's only operating license. Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. has a 30 percent share and LG-Caltex Oil Corp. has another 15 percent. The company also holds a 33.3 percent interest in exploration Blocks 7, 8 and 9, which are currently inactive pending resolution of border issues between Thailand and Cambodia. Chevron operates and holds a 55 percent interest in Block A, in offshore Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand covering approximately 1.6 million acres in total. Chevron processed more than 600,000 acres of 3-D seismic data and drilled five exploration wells, which ended in early 2005 and resulted in four discoveries. The company is evaluating the five wells and is planning a third campaign expected to begin in 2006.

Cambodia Approves Counter-Terrorism Law

Cambodia, which a top U.N. official labeled a potential "breeding ground for terrorism," approved on July 7 a counter-terrorism law that aims to tighten the impoverished country's defenses. The law, drafted with the help of Australian and British legal experts, was approved by the cabinet and should be ratified by the National Assembly next week. Cambodia is not a key target of terrorists, but it cannot isolate itself from the world. The law allows for the seizure of assets and imposes a maximum penalty of life in prison for those convicted of terrorism-related crimes. It also strengthens Cambodia’s legal cooperation with other countries in the region, including the extradition of suspects. Two years ago a top U.N. security official, Heraldo Munoz, said Cambodia lacked basic resources to catch terrorists and could become a "breeding ground for terrorism." Munoz cited a reported visit to the country by Indonesian preacher Hambali, who authorities believe was al-Qaida's point man in Southeast Asia.  Hambali, who is thought to have been the mastermind behind the 2002 nightclub bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, has been in U.S. custody since his 2003 arrest in Thailand. Prime Minister Hun Sen has  said the government was geared up to root out insurgents and had provided information that led to Hambali’s arrest. However, he also  acknowledged last year that the country needed help to fight smugglers supplying arms to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in Sri Lanka, insurgents in the Philippines and ethnic Karen rebels in Myanmar.

Will the Real FUNCINPEC ....Oops Sorry. The Real Royalist Stand - up and be Counted!

Various news indicate that Funcinpec internal disputes, especially among the leaders who are threatening each other with lawsuits, are leading to the formation of a new political party. Did the royalist Funcinpec party not follow its bylaw which was set during its formation? Was it something else? Prince Thomico had shown his willingness to form a new party. and is to be booted out of the comforts and confines of the Royal Palace by the King Father. Princess Vicheara, yet  another recalcitrant royalist in active politics explained as follows: "… I am not the one who came up with the idea. Prince Thomico started the idea, he talked to me, he discussed his plan to form a political party. [I] believe that the policies presented by Prince Thomico are good for the nation, for Cambodians, for the Khmer people. In particular, he said that he wants to revisit what we consider not in agreement with how the royalist party was initially established by King-Father in the 80s. Back then, the [royalist] party had a clear policy, a clear political directive, right now Prince Thomico wants to form a political party which will adopt the policy and political directive of the original Funcinpec party. King Father Sihanouk has made it abundantly clear that he wants to have nothing to do with Prince Thomico (his nephew) and the yet tobe formed political party. then agan, retired King Sihanouk has claimed many things only to recant them later. In any event, analysts would like to point out in FUNCINPEC's turbulent history, there has been many sheninigans. In the nineties, some disgruntled FUNCINPEC officials  lefy to form theirown party and two of them have since died as political destitutes while another is languishing in the political doldrum. Whatever the case, Thomico should understand the sentiments of the people at large. They are tired, fed-up, dissapointed and disillusioned with the royalist and their low-moraled politics and using the Sangkum reastr Niyum as the founding bastion with a change in name to Sangkum Cheath Niyum is just another attempt to mislead the public by the Royalists!

The Dangers of Alcohol Consumption and Politics

This heading must come as a surprise to readers. Read on before you decide the relevance. About a week ago, Prime Minister Hun Sen was scheduled to make a visit to Oddar Meanchey province for a ceremony. The night prior the arrival of the Prime Minister, a senior member of the Government returned close to the site after a bout of heavy drinking and decided to confront the Prime Ministers advance team of bodyguards who were detailed to secure the perimeter the night before his arrival. This senior official was audacious enough to demand as to who had placed the bodyguards there, knowing well that this was a routine exercise and involved no ulterior motives  since all the armed forces were under the RCAF and had a unified command. Furthermore, the senior official was a member of the  junior party in the coalition. Only the calm and sane attitude of the body guard unit commander on site prevented and what was heading towards an explosive confrontation. By morning however, the senior official had come to his senses and apologized profusely for his "irrational behavior as he was under the influence of alcohol". This same official's irrational behavior in 1997 led to two days of street fighting and political and  social instability. Analysts would like to caution coalition members to be more prudent in their behavior as well as actions to avoid unnecessary fiction which if wrongly interpreted would have dire consequences.

The Self Proclaimed Poor and the Real Poor

Farmers coming from the provinces to ask for help relief in Phnom Penh are not the needy ones, therefore, it is out of the question to give them anything at all. Prime Minister Hun Sen flatly said during a graduation ceremony. According to Mr. Hun Sen, these men and women who are camping under the tamarind trees near the Royal Palace waiting to receive relief donations are not the “real poor.” “The real destitutes are not here, in Phnom Penh. They are in the provinces,” Hun Sen said about those who came to the capital, they came here because they were pushed by a political party. “The real victims [of natural disasters] could not afford to come here. In the past, some told us that that they came from the province of Banteay Meanchey. But when they were put in a truck to take them back home, some got off in the province of Kompong Chhnang, others got off near the Monivong bridge or in Kien Svay,” the prime minister said. To Hun Sen, the responsible party for these arrivals in the capital is the SRP. “The situation in Cambodia is not the same as in Sudan or Somalia. Here, we don’t leave anybody to die of hunger,” the Prime Minister added. “If one gives something, the same people will come back again,” he affirmed. Presenting various reasons, most of them generally linked to land disputes, several hundreds people came to the capital since the beginning of the year to ask for help from Members of Parliament or the government, they settled in front of Wat Botum pagoda. Responsible for these acts is the opposition party who go out of their way to organize transport and promise them help if they were to come to the city and stage protests in front of the National  Assembly or at the Royal Palace.