The Cambodia Daily, 10/10/2011

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is seeking government approval to begin exploratory drilling for oil some 37km off the coast of Sihanouk Ville by the end of this month, according to an Environmental Impact Assessment of the project obtained Friday.

As part of the approval process to drill an exploratory well to test for oil or gas in offshore concession Block F, CNOOC will attend a meeting today at the Ministry of Environment to allow civil society groups to review the impact assessment.

Representatives of Bangkok based International Environmental Management Corporation (IEM), a firm hired by CNOOC to study the environmental impact of drilling an exploratory well in Block F, a 4,709 square-km concession area in the Cambodian Exclusive Economic Zone, will also be at today’s meeting.

“We look forward to the participation of civil society tomorrow” IEM CEO Ron Livingston wrote in an e-mail.

The Extractive Industry Social Environmental Network, an NGO working for transparency withing Cambodia’s oil and gas sectors, was invited to attend today’s review of the environmental assessment.

However, according to Mam Sambath, chairman of the network, his group will not be attending today’s meeting because it was given too little time to ingest the heavily technical impact assessment document.

“We received the report on Thursday, and it was completed in July,” Mr. Mam Sambath said.

“It was very short notice. We need at least a week to review the report,” he said, adding that his organization had submitted a letter voicing its frustration with the process to the Ministry of Environment ahead of the meeting.

The environmental impact assessment outlines worst-case scenarios for an oil or fuel spill, as well as any other “unplanned incidents.”

A copy of the assessment states that, pending approval, CNOOC will drill one exploratory well 37 km southwest of Sihanouk Ville this month and seal and abandon the well in early December of this year.

“The knowledge gained from the exploratory drilling will enable CNOOC to identify the presence/absence of petroleum products (oil and/or gas),” the report states in its executive summary. “Should that [the presence of oil] be the case,” it continues, ” a bigger drilling program and possible petroleum extraction may follow at a later date and be subject to full environmental impact assessment.”

Should the Ministry of Environment approve the assessment, it then heads, along with an environmental management plan, to the Camboidan National Petroleum Authority for final approval before drilling to check for oil in Block F begins, according to the assessment.

In its worst-case  scenario outlook, the assessment predicts a 150,000 liter diesel fuel spill that would take 10 minutes to seep into the waters surrounding the exploratory well in the Gulf of Thailand.

“The results reveal that a diesel spill at the well…would be totally dispersed at sea within 8 [hours and] 40 minutes. The spill length of 4 km would not reach Koh tang.”

The report also touches on “the most likely” accident to occur as a result of the project: the spilling of hazardous materials from the drilling rig itself, including a little more than half a ton of “slop oil, spent lube oil, greases and hydraulic fluids, batteries, rags and materials contaminated with oil, grease, solvents, and containers contaminated with hazardous materials”

Overall, the report lists most risks to the affected area’s environmental quality, social issues and health as low or medium, and presents a favorable outlook of the project, most frequently citing financial benefits from the discovery of Cambodian oil reserves.

The report also states that the approval of the project is “preferable” to its denial, partly because CNOOC is bound to drill an exploratory well under the drilling concession signed with the Cambodian government in 2007.

“Thus, the project is preferable to no project,” it states, adding that there is a low probability of a spill.

According to the company’s website, CNOOC is one of the largest oil and gas exploration companies in the world, with total assets of $51.4 billion. It is the largest company of its kind in China