Surrounded by shipping crates and puddles, the equipment stacked on concrete blocks in the center of this dingy port facility on the Gulf of Thailand looks more like scrap metal than anything worthy of protection.

But the piles of metal pipes behind flimsy yellow rope are guarded by an armed security officer, as they may hold the key to this impoverished nation's future.

In the coming weeks, US oil giant Chevron will ferry them hundreds of miles offshore, and use them to reconfirm what many already believe to be true: Cambodia is sitting on a billion-dollar gold mine. Black gold to be exact.

The amount of oil Cambodia will produce in the coming years is likely to have a negligible impact on world markets. But for this impoverished country of 13 million, still recovering from the brutality of the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese occupation, it could be nothing short of transformative.

"If managed well, this could be a huge opportunity for Cambodia," says Tim Conway, a poverty reduction specialist for the World Bank.

The oil money, says Mr. Conway, "could allow them to make investments in infrastructure, help diversify the economy, and develop schools and resources to help them compete in the region and the world economy.

"The concern is that if it's not handled properly, it could actually make them worse off."

Chevron used 3-D seismic data to survey more than 2,427 kilometers, and drilled five exploration wells last year, hitting oil in four. They've been cautious in public statements, announcing only that they plan to reconfirm their finds with 10 more test wells in the months ahead.

But the government, diplomats, and the myriad aid organizations operating here have been less sanguine. Earlier this month, officials in this southern port town announced plans to construct a massive new port facility to service oil operators offshore, in anticipation of a full-scale oil boom.

Oil companies from China, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan are all vying for offshore contracts. The UN Development Program (UNDP) identified oil as the best hope for the country's future, and released estimates widely cited in the development community. In Chevron's "Block A" alone, the first of six demarcated offshore zones, the government share of oil and gas revenues are expected to top between $700 million to $1 billion a year.

By some estimates – according to the UNDP – it's not unreasonable to believe that in the coming years, revenue from gas and oil deposits will more than double Cambodia's GDP, which now stands at about $5 billion (much of that is from foreign aid). And that's not even counting the disputed zones between Thailand and Cambodia, which could be the richest of all.

"I think that the oil and gas in the overlapping area is 10 times bigger than the oil [in] Block A," says Men Den, director of exploration at the National Petroleum Authority.

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