A Chinese-based oil exploration company and a Canadian partner have entered into preliminary negotiations with the government to obtain an exploration license in Block D in the Gulf of Thailand, according to a government spokesman.

Cheap Sour, spokesman at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said the government had approved an application from Cambodian Resource Energy Development Co. Ltd. and was now in the process of setting up an inter-ministerial committee to negotiate with the company. The ministry has not released the names of the two companies backing the project.

“If we successfully negotiate an agreement, then we will sign the agreement so that the company can start their work,” he said, adding that the negotiations were “still in the early stages.”

The Cambodian Resource Energy Development Co. Ltd. registered with the Ministry of Commerce in April last year, according to the ministry’s website, and listed Chen Bo as the chairman of its board of directors.

No contact information for Bo is provided. He could not be reached yesterday.

Block D is a 5,500-square-kilometre zone in the Gulf of Thailand that was previously licensed to Cambodian firm CPHL (Cambodia). The government revoked that exploration license in May 2016 after the company failed to meet the terms of the agreement.

Sour said he was unable to predict when or if the new agreement with Cambodian Resource Energy Development would be finalised.