A U.S. geoscience exploration firm working in South Korea’s East Sea has identified 14 new potential oil and gas prospects, South Korean officials announced on Monday.
Act-Geo, the U.S.-based exploration firm, reported its findings to the Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC), according to officials from KNOC and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, as quoted by Yonhap News Agency.
The company’s preliminary report indicates that the East Sea could hold between 680 million and 5.17 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent. However, experts have yet to confirm these findings.
This discovery adds to the growing optimism around offshore exploration in South Korea. Last year, Act-Geo highlighted the region’s significant potential, calling further exploration “highly prospective.”
In June 2024, South Korea approved a plan to drill off its east coast, seeking to tap into what studies suggest could be vast reserves of crude oil and natural gas. Officials at the time estimated the area could hold as much as 14 billion barrels of oil and gas.
Vitor Abreu, co-founder and advisor of Act-Geo, noted last year that the preliminary survey results had already garnered interest from major international companies.
South Korea aims to confirm these resources by mid-2025, with commercial production expected to begin by 2035. Much of the potential resources are thought to be natural gas.
As one of the world’s largest importers of crude oil and natural gas, South Korea hopes that domestic production will help meet some of its energy needs. According to KNOC, the country is the fourth-largest importer of fossil fuels and the ninth-largest energy consumer globally.
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