Thailand and Cambodia open UNCLOS talks over a $300 billion seabed

Foreign ministers from Thailand and Cambodia delivered opening statements in Singapore on Tuesday at the first meeting of a United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea conciliation commission. The panel is examining overlapping claims to about 27,000 square kilometres of seabed in the Gulf of Thailand. Reuters put the hydrocarbons in that patch at nearly 12 trillion cubic feet of gas plus oil, with a combined value near $300 billion.

Cambodia's deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Prak Sokhonn, told the five-member commission that Phnom Penh wants a single all-purpose maritime boundary. If that cannot be drawn now, he said Cambodia would accept a joint-development pact that splits the resources until a boundary exists. He framed the process as a way to rebuild trust after Thailand cancelled a 2001 memorandum of understanding on 5 May.

Thailand's deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, said Bangkok had wanted direct talks first. He limited the commission's work to maritime delimitation in the Gulf of Thailand. He said the process does not touch sovereignty over land, including the island of Koh Kood. He restated Thailand's line from the Royal Proclamation of 18 May 1973 and rejected Cambodia's 1972 continental-shelf claim as having no legal basis.

How the file reached Singapore

The neighbours signed MoU 44 in 2001 to build a framework for the overlapping claims area. Thailand ended that pact in May after last year's deadly land-border clashes, which killed several dozen civilians and soldiers and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. In June Cambodia opened compulsory conciliation under UNCLOS. Prime Minister Hun Manet announced the step on 2 June.

Conciliation under Annex V of UNCLOS produces recommendations. It does not issue a binding judgment. The Permanent Court of Arbitration supports the process. The first session runs Monday to Wednesday in Singapore. Both ministers led their delegations in person.

Sihasak accused Cambodia of using international forums to claim the moral high ground and of distorting facts. Prak said Cambodia chose a peaceful option after Thailand walked away from the 2001 text. Those two stories of the same May decision will sit in the record for the rest of the panel's work.

What each side put on the table

Cambodia offered two end-states: a boundary treaty, or joint development with an equitable split until a boundary is agreed. That second option keeps the gas in play even if the line stays undrawn. Thailand offered good-faith participation and a narrow mandate. By excluding Koh Kood and any land question, Bangkok is trying to stop the maritime file from reopening the land-border fight that flared last year.

The resource numbers explain the urgency. Twelve trillion cubic feet of gas is a national energy asset for either treasury. A $300 billion headline value, even if it is an upper-end estimate, is large enough to finance years of budget and to change how each navy patrols the gulf. Joint development would require a unitisation formula, a tax split and a decision on which operator drills first. None of that is in the opening statements.

What the panel can and cannot do

The commission can clarify facts, propose a line or a joint zone, and set a timetable for further talks. It cannot force either government to sign. Thailand has already shown it will tear up a bilateral memorandum when the land border turns violent. Cambodia has shown it will move the file into a UN process when bilateral talks stall. Those habits will matter more than the tone in Singapore this week.

The immediate test is whether the two sides can agree on the scope paragraph. If Thailand keeps land and Koh Kood outside the room, and Cambodia keeps a joint-development fallback inside it, the panel has a path. If either side treats the first session as a stage for last year's war, the recommendations will arrive to governments that have already decided not to use them.