SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) — Multiple foreign oil majors have shown interest in participating in South Korea’s deep-sea gas field development project, industry sources said Wednesday.
At least two companies, whose identities were withheld, have reviewed the exploration data of potential oil and gas reserves in the East Sea being provided by the Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC), according to the sources familiar with the matter.
The KNOC issued a bid invitation for the project in March, allowing interested parties to access data from the first exploratory drilling of the potential reserves, as well as seismic and geological data.
Foreign companies can apply to acquire up to a 49 percent stake in the project by June 20 to become a partner of KNOC, which will have a majority stake in the project.
The KNOC plans to select a preferred bidder among foreign applicants in early July.
The South Korean government announced the discovery of seven potential oil and gas reserves in the East Sea off the coast of Yeongil Bay in Pohang, about 270 kilometers southeast of Seoul, last year.
Among the seven reserves, the biggest prospects, named the Blue Whale, showed signs of gas, but the hydrocarbon saturation rate — a key factor in estimating how much oil and gas can be produced from a reservoir — was not “meaningful enough” to have economic feasibility, according to a February announcement of the results of the initial exploratory drilling by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The ministry has said it has failed to confirm economic feasibility of the Blue Whale prospect but has checked a “fine geological system” of other prospects.
This file photo, provided by a reader, shows a drillship named West Capella conducting a drilling operation in the East Sea to check an oil and gas prospect on Dec. 20, 2024. (Yonhap)
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