Cambodia broke ground last week on a new grassroots oil refinery, the country’s first, located in the southwestern province of Preah Sihanouk. The initial capacity of 2 million tonnes of crude oil per year will be completed by 2019. Phase 2 will boost capacity to 5 million tonnes and will be completed by 2022.

The project is a joint venture between Cambodia Petrochemical Co. and China’s Sino Great Wall International Engineering Co. Ltd. The USD620 million project is being built by an engineering unit of China National Petroleum Co.

Cambodia’s Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem said that most of the crude oil for the refinery will be supplied from the Middle East, with some coming from Cambodia later.

Cambodia’s fuel demand is rising, up 6.7% in 2015 from the previous year. In 2015, Cambodia imported 1.8 million tonnes of fuel.