Energy planners are pushing the
revival of talks with Cambodia on the oil-rich overlapping claims area
(OCA) between the two countries to ensure energy security.

They also urge all parties not
to turn it into a political issue so that the talks stand a chance of
getting off the ground. In recent years, less-than-smooth relations
between the two countries have prevented the issue from being raised.

"In principle, energy planners
are eager to see progress, as we're all aware our gas reserves are going
to be depleted over the next 15-18 years," said an Energy Ministry
source. "Without prior preparation for new petroleum reserves, Thailand
will likely be in trouble, given the growing rate of consumption."

A source insisted the plan has nothing to do with Thai politics.

The OCA is a 27,000-square-metre
offshore area estimated to contain 11 trillion cubic feet of natural
gas and unknown quantities of condensate and oil. The OCA is defined by
the Cambodian claim of 1972 (western boundary line) and the Thai claim
of 1973 (eastern boundary line), as well as the 1991 Cambodian-Vietnam
maritime border (southern boundary).

Cambodia and Thailand signed a
memorandum of understanding in June 2001 under the Thaksin Shinawatra
administration. They agreed in principle that a joint development regime
could be established over the southern two-thirds of the claims area,
which spans 27,000 sq km, while the northern third could be developed
once the maritime border was delineated.

Agreements on overlapping claims were almost reached when the 2006 coup toppled the Thaksin government.

Bangkok cancelled this agreement in 2009 in protest over Thaksin's appointment as an economic adviser to Cambodia.

Thailand has sought to settle
the dispute over the overlapping claims area for 30 years, back to the
days of the Gen Prem Tinsulanonda government.

It successfully concluded
similar talks with Malaysia and Vietnam, which started in 1979 and 1994,
respectively, but those with Cambodia, which began in 1995 to tap into
potentially rich reserves, have made little headway.

The issue of revenue sharing is a stumbling block for both sides.

Both countries presented
competing proposals in earlier talks. Cambodia proposes dividing the
disputed area in a checkerboard fashion, creating at least 14 different
blocks, with revenue and management shared equally.

But the main Thai
counterproposal is that the disputed area be divided into three strips
running north-south, with the revenue from the central area to be shared
equally.

The share from the outer areas
would be weighted in favour of the country adjacent to that area, about
80/20 to Thailand on the western side of the OCA and 80/20 to Cambodia
on the eastern side.

In the absence of firm data on
reserves in the OCA since exploration has yet to be allowed, energy
experts have indicated it makes intuitive sense that most of the
exploitable reserves are located towards the Thai side of the OCA.

This is because the Pattani
basin, the oilfield containing most of the offshore oil and gas reserves
in undisputed Thai waters, extends into the OCA.