Singapore-based firm KrisEnergy Ltd, which operates Cambodia’s offshore Block A, claims it will be able to meet its schedule to extract its first drop of oil late this year.
The firm has actively prepared all necessary facilities for the production, Ministry of Mines and Energy spokesperson Cheap Sour said on Thursday.
Sour said ministry officials met with the firm’s representative to examine progress and make sure its plans will work well and meet the oil production schedule.
He said extraction of the first drop of oil will begin late this year, with commercial production scheduled to begin next year.
“The development of the main infrastructures for oil production has been organised,” he said, adding that there are four main ones that the firm will need to develop for oil production, including an oil platform, a drilling rig, a production barge, and floating production storage and offloading (FPSO).
He said KrisEnergy has contracted many developers and the constructions are currently in progress.
The company first became a stakeholder for Block A in 2010, before buying the stake owned by Chevron for $65 million. KrisEnergy owns 95 per cent of the Apsara oil field in Block A, while the Cambodian government owns the remaining five per cent.
Minister of Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth said in August 2017 that Block A is believed to hold about 30 million barrels of oil, which could be extracted over the course of nine years.
KrisEnergy announced last August that its wholly-owned subsidiary, SJ Production Barge Ltd, has contracted Keppel Shipyard Ltd for the modification and upgrading of its production barge for the Apsara oil development in the Block A concession offshore Cambodia.
The value of the contract is approximately $21.7 million. The firm’s announcement revealed that when completed in the third quarter of this year, the production barge will be capable of processing up to 30,000 barrels of fluid per day.
KrisEnergy investor relations and corporate communications vice-president Tanya Pang on Thursday said the development plan for the Apsara field requires a production barge.
She said works to upgrade and modify the production barge commenced in the fourth quarter of last year in Keppel Shipyard’s Benoi Yard in Singapore.
“The barge has now moved to drydock for steel life extension works before installation of accommodation units and helipad,” she said.
Pang added that preparation of other development facilities and services are being worked on. “We are continuing our development preparations with the aim to meet our original first oil schedule.”
