Cambodia is importing more fuel from suppliers in Singapore and Malaysia to make up for supply shortfalls from Vietnam and China, its energy minister told Reuters on Wednesday, as the US-Israeli war on Iran squeezes fuel availability globally.
About a third of the 6,300 petrol stations in the country of nearly 18,000,000 people closed last week due to uncertainty over the impact of the conflict on fuel prices, but only 5.77 per cent are closed currently, Energy Minister Keo Rottanak told Reuters.
Vietnam and China have restricted fuel exports until at least the end of March to arrest potential domestic shortages. Cambodia and neighbouring Thailand stopped fuel trade after the onset of an armed conflict in July.
Thailand and Vietnam together accounted for over 60 per cent of Cambodia's annual petroleum product imports in 2024, while Singapore and Malaysia made up nearly a third and China accounted for around seven per cent, according to data from International Trade Centre, a Geneva-based UN-WTO trade agency.
Rottanak said Cambodia was boosting imports from Singapore and Malaysia due to export restrictions elsewhere, adding that existing suppliers are also trying to export fuel despite tightening supply.
"We're still able to import a little bit from China. But because we have strong partnerships with global suppliers Total and Chevron, they are able to mitigate some of the risk," he said in an interview with Reuters.
Rottanak did not provide specifics on when the supplies from Singapore and Malaysia would arrive, but said current fuel stockpiles were comparable to historical levels.
Gasoline and diesel exports from the two countries to Cambodia in the first 18 days of this month were 25 per cent higher than the same period last year, but 40 per cent lower than in the final 18 days of February, Kpler data showed.
Cambodia has no oil refinery, and has less than a month's supply of diesel, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gas and petrol under normal conditions, Rottanak said.
"We are not yet 100 per cent insulated at this stage, but the inflow seems to be okay for the time being," he said.
Rottanak said the government held preliminary talks this month with Australia's Woodside Energy to secure liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for a 900-megawatt power plant expected to start generation next year, adding that Australian supplies helped hedge against geopolitical risks.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has choked LNG shipments to Asia and threatened to suppress LNG demand, as shipping through a major waterway that connects the Middle East to Asia has all but stopped and number two global exporter Qatar has halted shipments.
"In light of our commitment to diversify, we have been talking with Australia's Woodside to potentially supply LNG for our first-ever LNG-fired power plant," he said.
Woodside declined to comment.
Cambodia has been partly shielded from the shock by a rapid buildout of renewable energy, Rottanak said, adding that fuel imports have largely remained stable from 2022 levels due to renewables-led electrification.
"Because of renewable energy, we are in a way less susceptible to 100 per cent shock from the oil in the Middle East," he said, adding that the conflict highlights the need to expedite interconnection grids of countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"Situations like this should remind all of us that an ASEAN power grid is the way to go. We would be much, much more resilient than we are today," he said.
(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Florence Tan, Kevin Buckland and Mark Porter)