PHNOM PENH, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia had imported 1.2 million tons of petroleum in the first ten months of this year, 66 percent rise, compared with the same period last year of 724,300 tons, showed the data from the Commerce Ministry’s Camcontrol Department on Saturday.
During the period, the country had spent 1.13 billion U.S. dollars to purchase petroleum from foreign suppliers, up 132 percent from 486 million U.S. dollars it spent within the same period last year, it said.
Cambodia’s oil demand has sharply increased in recent years thanks to the growing extent of economy and the increasing number of vehicles. The demand is expected to reach 3 to 4 million tons a year in coming years.
According to the reports of the Ministry of Public Work and Transports, currently, the country has about 1.6 million motorcycles and 310,000 cars, buses and trucks.
Cambodia has entirely purchased petroleum from Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand as its seabed’s oil and gas have not been exploited.
The impoverished country hopes that the first drop of its own-produced oil will be available from December, 2012 as now Cambodia’s Petrochemical Company has been studying the feasibility to build an oil refinery with the annual capacity of 5 million tons per year in Preah Sihanouk province.
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