Angkor Resources Corp. (TSXV: ANK OTCQB: ANKOF) announced that its wholly owned Cambodian energy subsidiary, EnerCam Resources Co., Ltd., has received final approval from Cambodia's Ministry of Environment (MoE) to drill exploratory wells on the Kirirom, Bokor North, Bokor Central, and Bokor South sub-basins of the Block VIII onshore oil and gas concession in southwest Cambodia. The approval, granted after an inter-ministerial review on July 14, 2026, involving more than 26 representatives from five government ministries and three provinces, enables EnerCam to proceed with its planned drilling program.
The MoE approval covers drilling on all four sub-basins that host EnerCam's defined drill targets, located across Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, and Kampong Speu provinces. With the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approved, EnerCam now advances to the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) with applications covering specific components of the drilling program, including downhole logging and well operations. The company is also completing due diligence on several potential drilling contractors ahead of a tender. The 70+ page tender document will be reviewed and approved by MME before publication. Once a drilling contractor is engaged, mobilizing the drilling equipment to the sites takes approximately three months.
Mike Weeks, President of EnerCam, commented: "With approval now in hand on all four sub-basins, we move to the Ministry of Mines and Energy on the individual components of the drilling program, and that includes the well logging and the downhole tools. The Ministry of Environment went through this in detail with us - how each site is drilled, how the water and drilling fluid are handled, and how the land is restored if a well is not productive. It has been a thorough process with the Ministries and with the communities where we will be working, and it sets a precedent for how onshore drilling gets done in Cambodia as the sector develops."
The approval is significant because Cambodia imports 100% of its hydrocarbon-based energy products, making the discovery of a domestic supply a high priority for the Kingdom. EnerCam's program would be the first privately financed onshore drilling for oil and gas in Cambodia, and a discovery would begin to offset what the Kingdom currently spends on imports. The company's 4+1 drill program contemplates one exploration well in each of the four sub-basins, followed by a fifth well located based on the results of those wells under a Production Sharing Contract. 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.
EnerCam has completed 350 line-kilometers of 2D seismic and defined drill targets across the four sub-basins. The approval sets a precedent for onshore drilling in Cambodia as the sector develops. For more details, see the Figure 1 Outline of Block VIII with four identified sub-basins representing five planned drill targets, called 4+1 leaving the fifth well location to be determined after drilling the first four. The original release is available on www.newmediawire.com.
