Angkor Resources Corp. has moved a step closer to drilling Cambodia’s first privately financed onshore oil and gas wells after its energy subsidiary presented a proposed 2027 work program to the Royal Government of Cambodia. The announcement matters because Cambodia imports 100% of its hydrocarbon-based energy products, making a domestic supply a national priority.
EnerCam Resources Co., Ltd. outlined its plans at a Joint Review Committee meeting on October 6, 2026, at the Ministry of Mines and Energy in Phnom Penh, according to a release carried by NEWMEDIAWIRE. The committee meets twice yearly under the terms of EnerCam’s Production Sharing Contract to review progress on Block VIII, a roughly 4,095-square-kilometre onshore license in southwestern Cambodia.
The 2027 program, covering Year 3 of Exploration Stage 1, is directed at preparing for exploratory drilling. North Bokor is planned as the first well, followed by a second. EnerCam says North Bokor holds the largest of three mapped Bokor closures, with a mean area of 100 square kilometres. The schedule includes preparing a drilling tender for government review, bid selection in early 2027, drill pad construction and rig mobilization, and import permits for downhole perforating charges and radioactive logging sources.
Mike Weeks, President of EnerCam, said the ministry’s feedback was positive and that the questions were appropriate for a project nearing the drill bit. “We’re now updating the 2027 budget and the 2026 actuals, so the Ministry has the full picture as we move to the tender and to drilling Cambodia’s first onshore wells,” he said.
The company also reported its 2026 results. Oil seep samples analyzed in 2026 were consistent with a 2015 Schlumberger evaluation indicating a thermogenic source, and a surface coal sample analyzed by Norway’s Institute for Energy Technology placed the source rock in the early to peak oil generation window. Field studies with students at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia identified quartz arenite sandstones at surface with 13–14% porosity. The team completed interpretation of two key unconformity surfaces and converted seismic sections to depth.
Three approvals were secured in 2026: the corporate social responsibility program on May 13, the Health, Safety and Environment Manual on August 24, and the drilling Environmental Impact Assessment on September 15. Under the CSR program, EnerCam installed playgrounds at 11 primary schools benefiting about 3,900 students and latrines for selected poor families. A photograph of the company’s presentation to the committee is available via Figure 1.
Each exploration well is designed to be completed in a full production configuration, flow-tested for four weeks and then shut in for a 12-week pressure build-up, so the test yields a definitive answer on reservoir commerciality. For a country entirely dependent on imported hydrocarbons, a discovery would carry significant implications for energy security. The full release is available at www.newmediawire.com.
