Recently, the governments of Thailand and Cambodia announced that they will restart negotiations to explore a rich oil and gas field in the disputed waters of the Gulf of Thailand. This decision has attracted widespread attention from the international community, as it is estimated that the sea area contains approximately 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 300 million barrels of crude oil, worth at least $300 billion.

Thai Prime Minister Petantan stated that restarting oil and gas exploration negotiations with Cambodia is one of her top ten urgent goals. The two countries agreed earlier this year to discuss how to fairly exploit this 26000 square kilometer sea area. However, due to historical diplomatic disputes and sovereignty sensitivity, this negotiation was not easy. Nevertheless, both Thailand and Cambodia have shown a positive attitude, hoping to start joint exploration as soon as possible to fully utilize this abundant resource.

It is reported that Thailand is seeking to increase its decreasing oil and gas reserves to control electricity prices and rising fuel import costs. Therefore, despite the sovereignty dispute in the above-mentioned waters, the Thai government still hopes to cooperate with Cambodia as soon as possible. Thai Finance Minister Bichai said in a parliamentary session, "We don't need to solve the border issue, we just need to have friendly talks and make good use of resources." This viewpoint has received a positive response from the Cambodian government, and a Cambodian government spokesperson said that if the Thai government is prepared, Cambodia is willing to continue negotiations.

This decision by Thailand and Cambodia will not only have a profound impact on their energy supply, but also have important implications for the energy landscape of the entire Southeast Asian region.Thailand is one of the important economies in Southeast Asia, and its electricity mainly relies on natural gas, accounting for two-thirds of the total electricity generation.However, due to the decline in domestic natural gas reserves, Thailand has increased its imports of liquefied natural gas in recent years.The oil and gas fields explored this time are expected to provide stable energy supply for Thailand, which will help alleviate its energy shortage problem.

In addition, with the acceleration of global energy transition, the development of renewable and clean energy is increasingly valued. However, before renewable energy completely replaces traditional energy, oil and gas resources remain an important source of energy for many countries. Therefore, the decision of Thailand and Cambodia also reflects the important position and role of traditional energy in the current energy transition context.