Angkor Resources Corp.'s Cambodian energy subsidiary, EnerCam Resources Co., Ltd., has submitted the terms of its comprehensive drilling contractor tender to Cambodia's Ministry of Mines and Energy for review, the company announced. Once approved, the tender will be made public so that drilling companies can bid to drill exploratory wells on Block VIII. The development follows the Ministry of Environment's approval of EnerCam's Environmental Impact Assessment on September 30, 2026, which cleared the way to drill on all four sub-basins.
The 89-page tender outlines the full scope of work for the successful contractor, from importing and mobilizing the rig, pumps, drilling muds, casing, wellheads and consumables into Cambodia and to each drill site, through to testing each well. The drilling sequence calls for one exploration well in each of the four sub-basins—South Bokor, Central Bokor, North Bokor and Kirirom—drilled in the order specified by EnerCam's technical team, with a fifth well to be located based on the results of the first four. Wells will be drilled to depths of up to 3,300 meters, targeting a minimum of two potential pay zones at the three Bokor sub-basins, including fractured Permian carbonates below the Indosinian 1 unconformity.
Each 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 that testing gives a definitive answer on the commerciality of the reservoir. The tender also requires adherence to the approved EIA conditions, including protection of local communities, water and land, the handling of drilling fluids, and restoration of each site if a well is not productive. Mike Weeks, President of EnerCam, said: "This tender puts on paper everything the first wells in Cambodia need to deliver, and that includes the equipment, the drilling, the testing and how we protect the communities around each site. We have already done our due diligence on the contractors, so once the Ministry has reviewed the terms we can move quickly to selecting the company that will drill."
EnerCam has already completed due diligence on multiple potential drilling contractors. During 2026, the team made two visits to China to meet three potential drilling service providers and hosted site visits to Block VIII by two potential drilling contractors to assess roads, bridges and drill sites against the equipment required. The focus has been on each contractor's capacity to deliver the complete service—rigs, crews, logging and testing equipment—to international standards. Drilling contractors are selected through a tendered bid that is first approved by MME and then published in various media outlets. EnerCam is targeting bid selection in early 2027, and mobilizing the drilling equipment to the sites takes approximately three months once a contractor is selected.
The Block VIII wells will be Cambodia's first onshore oil and gas wells, providing the first direct well data from the onshore basins targeted by EnerCam. The program also sets a precedent for how onshore wells are permitted, contracted and drilled in Cambodia as the sector develops. Members of EnerCam's drilling team, including drilling manager John Koch, have designed and built oil and gas drill programs and drill sites in over 60 countries, bringing current global practice and technology to Block VIII. EnerCam has completed 350 line-kilometers of 2D seismic and defined drill targets across four sub-basins. Block VIII covers approximately 4,095 km² in the southwest quadrant of Cambodia under a 30-year Production Sharing Contract with the Royal Government of Cambodia. As Cambodia imports 100% of its hydrocarbon-based energy products, discovering a national domestic supply of oil and gas remains a high priority.
Angkor Resources is a public company listed on the TSX-Venture Exchange and is a leading resource explorer and developer in Cambodia. The company's mineral subsidiary, Angkor Gold Corp. Co., Ltd., holds two mineral exploration licenses in Cambodia with multiple prospects in copper and gold. The original release is available via www.newmediawire.com, and more information about the company can be found at resources.com.
