Cambodia to start tapping Oil in 2010

Cambodia expects to start harvesting revenues from its offshore oil reserves in 2010, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday.

The health and education sectors in Cambodia will receive a large share of the revenues, Hun Sen said while addressing a public ceremony.

In addition, Cambodia will not follow the path of some oil-rich African countries, who can not enrich themselves hereafter due to corruption, he added.

Here on Feb. 23, United States Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said that the Cambodia government should avoid the situation that "a small corrupt elite siphons off revenue that should go to improving the welfare of all the people."

He also noted that the extractive industries, namely oil, gas and various types of mining, in the next three years could more than triple the annual revenue received by the Cambodian government.

Oil buzz started in Cambodia in 2005, when U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp discovered petroleum off its coast, striking black in four of five test wells.

The government declines to give exact figures about the oil reserves. The World Bank has put them at two billion barrels while the UNDP confirmed 700 million barrels.

Source: Xinhua .