Mubadala Petroleum, one of the UAE’s largest oil and gas companies, is looking for investment opportunities in the Cambodian oil sector, said a senior official at the Ministry of Mines and Energy.

Mubadala Petroleum CEO Mazin al-Lamki expressed interest in investing in Cambodia’s oil sector during a meeting on Wednesday with the ministry’s secretary of state Meng Saktheara.

The ministry’s General Department of Petroleum director-general Cheap Sour told The Post on Thursday that with the company’s expertise and experience, the ministry welcomed its investment in offshore and onshore blocks.

“The company is interested in investment opportunities in Cambodia, including exploration and production, as well as setting up oil refineries.

“We informed it of the investment opportunities in Cambodia. We have four offshore blocks left and 18 unoccupied blocks onshore for oil and gas exploration. We are setting up a working group to further discuss opportunities for future investment,” Sour said.

He said Cambodia had divided areas for oil and gas exploration, with six blocks offshore and 19 onshore.

Singapore-based KrisEnergy is currently developing the Apsara oilfield’s Block A, which lies over the Khmer Basin, an unproduced geological area in Cambodian waters in the Gulf of Thailand.

Sour said regarding the offshore Block D oilfield, the ministry is scheduled to sign a petroleum agreement with Cambodian Resources Energy Development Co.

It is also negotiating an oil agreement with Canadian firm EnerCam Co for exploration in the onshore Block VIII.

“Block A is developing towards production, and we are planning to sign a petroleum agreement for exploration in Block D. Four offshore blocks are open for new investors like Mubadala,” he said.

Mazin said the company was interested in investing in the Cambodian oil sector given the Kingdom’s fuel and mineral resources potential.

“We will come over as soon as possible to carry out studies because investment in the oil and gas sector in Cambodia is urgently needed,” he was quoted as saying by Agence Kampuchea Presse.

Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi government-owned oil and gas company, was established in 2012. It currently operates in 10 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.

Prime Minister Hun Sen reiterated on Monday that Cambodia will extract the first drop of oil from the Apsara oilfield’s Block A by the middle of next year.

KrisEnergy on Monday started cutting the first steel for the minimum facilities wellhead “mini-platform” for the Apsara oilfield – Cambodia’s maiden oil development – as the company moved towards its target of extracting oil by mid-2020.

Apsara oil is scheduled to flow next year, with the field expected to reach a peak rate of 7,500 barrels of oil per day, KrisEnergy said.