Singapore-based Kris Energy has gone into liquidation after production at Cambodia's first offshore oil field failed to meet expectations, leaving it unable to cover its debt.

Kris operates the Apsara field in Cambodia with a 95pc stake. The project in the Gulf of Thailand started in December, with peak production targeted at 7,500 b/d by mid-February.

But production peaked at around 3,500 b/d in March and averaged less than 2,500 b/d since coming on line. The field's reservoirs appear less productive than results from the appraisal wells had suggested, and both production and oil-in-place estimates are likely to be lower than expected, Kris said in late March.

Kris had been depending on cash flow from the project to support a restructuring exercise that it began after being unable to meet its financial obligations. The company has no other viable restructuring options or sources of cash and so has submitted a winding up petition, it said on 4 June.

Kris also owns stakes in producing assets offshore Thailand and the Bangora gas field in Bangladesh, as well as upstream blocks in Thailand and Indonesia. It completed the farm-out of its interest in Vietnam's offshore Block 115 to an unnamed international oil and gas company in April and sold its stake in Indonesia's Andaman II production-sharing contract to BP in 2019.

The future of the Apsara project is unclear. The first cargo of up to 300,000 bl was due to be exported in May, according to the Cambodian energy ministry's director general of petroleum, Cheap Sour. It is unclear if the shipment took place.

Chevron made the Apsara oil find in early 2005 but was unable to agree fiscal terms allowing the development to progress further. It sold its stake in the field to Kris for $65mn in 2014.