Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday urged China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Corp, the Asia's largest oil refining and petrochemical enterprise, to expedite its process to build an oil refinery in Cambodia by 2018, a spokesman said.

The premier made the suggestion during a meeting with Cai Xiyou, senior vice president of Sinopec Corp, at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh.

In April, a Cambodian Petrochemical Company and several Chinese firms signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly build a 5- million-ton oil refinery in Cambodia with the investment amount of $1.67 billion.

"Prime Minister Hun Sen supported the project and urged the company to construct the oil refinery as soon as possible in order to enable Cambodia to produce oil by the latest 2018,"Eang Sophallet, personal spokesman for Hun Sen, told reporters after the meeting."The premier also advised the firm to reduce impact on environment as much as possible."

Cai Xiyou said that during his stay in Cambodia, he had discussed with representatives of the Cambodian Petrochemical Company and Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, chairman of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority.

He promised the premier that the Sinopec Corp would push forwards the construction of the oil refinery in Cambodia as soon as possible. He said the company would use the latest technologies to build the plant with international standards and minimum impact on environment.

The oil refinery project will be built on the 80-hectare area within the boundary of Preah Sihanouk province and Kampot province, according to the master plan. Currently, Cambodia completely buys oil and gas from Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand as its seabed's oil and gas have not been exploited.

Last year, the Southeast Asian nation spent $1.62 billion in importing about 1.65 million tons of oil, according to the record of the Ministry of Commerce. During the first eight months of this year, the nation imported 1.1 million tons of oil, costing $1.04 billion.

The government has estimated that the demand would increase up to 4 million tons a year in coming years thanks to rapid economic growth.