Yoon Holds Government Briefing to Announce Physical Exploration Results
World's Largest Scale Based on Deep Sea... Samsung Electronics' Market Cap 5 Times Larger
Leading Global Companies Also Interested... "High Potential"
President Yoon Suk-yeol is attending a national briefing held at the briefing room of the Yongsan Presidential Office building in Seoul on the morning of the 3rd, explaining about the oil and gas deposits in the East Sea. [Image source=Yonhap News]
President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 3rd, "Physical survey results indicate a very high possibility that 14 billion barrels of oil and gas are deposited in the offshore area of Yeongilman, Pohang." This deep-sea oil and gas field is the largest of its kind in the world, and when converted to economic value, it amounts to five times the market capitalization of Samsung Electronics.
On the same morning, President Yoon held the first national briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office and said, "Recent results show a very high possibility of 14 billion barrels of oil and gas deposits, and these findings have been verified by leading research institutions and experts."
President Yoon explained, "Since 1966, South Korea has consistently attempted to explore offshore oil and gas fields. As a result, in the late 1990s, we discovered the East Sea gas field with 45 million barrels, which completed commercial production by 2021, three years ago."
Regarding the newly discovered deep-sea oil and gas field, President Yoon said, "It is more than 300 times the size of the East Sea gas field discovered in the late 1990s," and added, "It is estimated that the entire country could use natural gas for up to 29 years and oil for up to 4 years with this amount."
Currently, about one-quarter of the total reserves are estimated to be oil, with the remaining three-quarters being gas.
President Yoon further stated, "As a deep-sea block, this is more than the 11 billion barrels of the Guyana block in South America, which is considered the largest oil development project of this century."
Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Deok-geun, during the subsequent briefing, said, "We are cautious as this could raise excessive expectations," but added, "The maximum estimated reserves of 14 billion barrels are valued at five times the current total market capitalization of Samsung Electronics." This is estimated to be around 1.4 trillion US dollars.
President Yoon approved the exploration drilling plan for the East Sea deep-sea oil and gas field submitted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the same day.
The development of oil and gas fields proceeds in three stages: physical survey, exploration drilling, and commercial development. The government plans to begin the exploration drilling phase to confirm the actual presence of oil and gas and the scale of the reserves.
Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Anduk Geun is providing additional explanations regarding the oil and gas deposits in the East Sea following President Yoon Seok-yeol's remarks during the national briefing held at the briefing room of the Presidential Office building in Yongsan, Seoul, on the morning of the 3rd. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Regarding the costs involved in exploration, President Yoon said, "At least five drilling wells need to be made, with each costing over 100 billion won."
Minister Ahn commented on this, saying, "It is difficult to specify the exploration costs themselves, but the development of the East Sea gas field, which produced 45 million barrels of gas, cost about 1.2 trillion won in total."
Given the large scale of the newly discovered deep-sea oil and gas field, it has attracted interest from the world's leading energy development companies.
Minister Ahn said, "It is difficult to specify company names," but added, "Companies with considerable experience and know-how have expressed intentions to invest in this area, indicating a high level of potential."
After preliminary preparations, the first drilling operation is expected to begin by the end of this year, with concrete results anticipated by the first half of next year.
Minister Ahn stated, "When actual commercial drilling preparation plans are made, construction could start around 2027 or 2028, and commercial development could begin around 2035."
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