Thailand’s Government has announced plans to restart negotiations with Cambodia for the joint exploration of an offshore oil and gas field, located in waters of the South China Sea disputed by the two countries since the 1970s. The field is estimated to potentially contain about 10 tcf (283 bcm) of natural gas and 300 mbl of crude oil, for a worth estimated at THB10,000bn (US$300bn).
Negotiations have stalled since 2001 when the two countries agreed that territorial claims must be discussed at the same time as joint resource development. Earlier in 2024, Thailand and Cambodia agreed to discuss how to fairly exploit the 26,000 km2 block.
In 2023, gas represented 67% of Thailand’s power generation (and 60% of its installed capacity), as well as 24% of its total consumption. Proved natural gas reserves were estimated at 97 bcm as of end-2023, but they are depleting quickly. The country’s crude oil reserves stood at 153 mbbl as of end-2023.
As for Cambodia, the country does not use gas for its power generation and has no record of its potential gas or crude oil resources.
Interested in Global Energy Research?
Enerdata's premium online information service provides up-to-date market reports on 110+ countries. The reports include valuable market data and analysis as well as a daily newsfeed, curated by our energy analysts, on the oil, gas, coal and power markets.
This user-friendly tool gives you the essentials about the domestic markets of your concern, including market structure, organisation, actors, projects and business perspectives.