Cambodia's Ministry of Mines and Energy has terminated a Petroleum Agreement for Block D, offshore Cambodia, with CPHL (Cambodia), with immediate effect, according to Mirach Energy, which owns 48% of CPHLC.
MME will hold Block D for CPHLC for a six month period and will not allow any other investor to bid on Block D, with CPHLC to be given priority to apply for a new petroleum agreement on certain terms and conditions, including that of getting new investment partner(s) under a joint venture.
CPHLC and Mirach are to explore their options before making a decision on the steps to be taken going forward.
Block D covers 5507sq km in shallow water area (ca.70m), in the northeast of the Khmer basin in Thailand Gulf, 150mi to the Sihanoukville, and Mirach Energy is the operator. It was estimated that the mean of oil initially in place is 1.7 billion bbl.
The petroleum agreement had granted CPHLC rights for seven years exploration and 30 years production development, as of March 2006. An extension of the exploration period to December 2018 had been agreed last year, but negotiations over the terms of the agreement had stalled.