Plans spilt for oil refinery
A mysterious cluster of crude oil storage tanks recently constructed on the coast near Kampot are linked to a $400 million project by timber baron Try Pheap to build an industrial park and oil refinery, government officials confirmed on December 21. The five 2-million-litre tanks are part of 20 crude oil storage tanks slated for construction on a 51-hectare port project the tycoon is developing in Kampot province’s Teuk Chhou district, and connected to a special economic zone and oil refinery that his subsidiary petroleum company intends to build on an adjacent 268 hectares of land, they said. PAPA Petroleum Co Ltd, Pheap’s wholly-owned private fuel distribution company, submitted plans for the SEZ and refinery to the Council for the Development of Cambodia, which has appointed the Ministry of Commerce to verify the company’s claim of land ownership, according to Sam Serei Rath, an undersecretary of state at the ministry. “Government policy means that the CDC gives the final approval for Try Pheap’s development,” he said. “We were just assigned to inspect the investment site to see if it was ready.”
