Needs help! Cambodian Country Context on Oil and Gas sector

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Permalink Reply by Ahmed Finoh on October 24, 2011 at 22:33

Kimheng, welcome.

By starting with enquiring into the (Cambodia's) country context, you are on the right tract on the way to success in your area of involvement in the country's extractive industry-oil & gas. You maybe young but you will soon discover that most of the initiatives that have been prescribed for resources mangement for development in Developing Countries have never been drawn with cognizant of the country context; what is here refered to as the political economy.

Majority of the experts' initiatives or recommendations are mere benchmark(ings) of policies or methods that have been initiated in other countries with other political contexts. They believe that what worked in Norway can be successful in Nigeria or Chile's approach can be benchmarked in Cambodia. (Resources Management) governance is unlike a scientific experiment that can be replicated once a set of exact conditions are fulfiled.

 

I do not have experience of Cambodia's country context, by which in my understanding are the legal and administrative policies and framework ( if any ) that have been established for the country's oil and gas sector management. Therefore, you will first have to enquire within the country, the government units, ministry, department responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry. That will be the country context, which will be the guidline for your work and any planned initiatives for Cambodia's gas and oil sector.

Success in the management of the country's extractive industries for national development will be achieved by working within existing governance system ( country context) or improving (through the legislature) existing legal framework for providing that favorable environment for external/domestic investment in the sector while establishing the regulatory oversight for the reduction of corruption, environmental and local impact remediations, and management of the resources for the benefit of the country.

Governance must not be sidelined by external initiatives. Rather, it should be enabled and held accountable for the management of the country's natural resources to benefit its citizens. 

You may want to look at the recent ICMM report for Thailand's extractive industry's benefit for the country as an example of how the country context influences the impact of this industry on the host country. The country context determines whether the resource endowment will not end up becoming a curse!

Good luck, in your career, youngman.

Eng. Ahmed Finoh

Durham, NC/USA

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Permalink Reply by Valérie Marcel on November 1, 2011 at 21:40

Hello Kimheng,

From Phnom Penh, you can tell us more about the country context in Cambodia than we can... From my experience doing research on the governance of the oil and gas sector, there are some features of the political and economic landscape in a country that are particularly key in understanding how the oil sector will be governed. One is how concentrated the political decision-making process is: Is the Parliament active?, which institutions are the power brokers of the political system? which institutions are consulted on major decisions?... these kind of factors will tell you whether governance of the oil sector will be dealt with in a box away from the political haggling of more participatory political systems. Another question is the strength of the economy: is it diversified? are some sectors growing and competitive internationally? how many technical graduates does your country produce?.... these factors will tell you about whether Cambodia's economy would be overtaken by a growing hydrocarbon sector and also about the potential for the domestic labor force to participate in the petroleum sector.

All the best, Valerie

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