PHNOM PENH, June 10 (FN) — Cambodia imported 302,776 tons of petroleum in the first quarter of 2016, down 30 percent from 434,288 tons over the same period last year, according to the data of the Ministry of Commerce on Friday.

The Southeast Asian country spent 115 million U.S. dollars on oil purchase during the January-March period this year, down 55 percent from 258 million U.S. dollars over the same period last year, the data said.

Cambodia imports petroleum from Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand as its seabed's oil and gas have not yet been exploited.

A liter of premium gasoline costs 0.87 U.S. dollar at gas stations in Phnom Penh this week, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Last month, China National Petroleum Corporation Northeast Refining & Chemical Engineering Company secured an engineering, procurement and construction contract from of the Cambodian Petrochemical Company to construct a 620 million-U.S.-dollar oil refinery in southwestern Preah Sihanouk province.

The construction on the oil refinery will start later this year and is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.