Cambodia boosts fuel imports from Singapore, Malaysia amid petrol station closures

2026.03.19 05:20 An employee (second left) pumps fuel into the vehicle of a customer in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on March 9. Photo: AFP Cambodia is importing more fuel from suppliers in Singapore and Malaysia to make up for supply shortfalls from Vietnam and China, its energy minister said 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 million ‌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 said. 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 7 per cent, according to data from the 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. 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. Petrol 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

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