Controversy Over 'Actgeo Tax Delinquency'... Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Says "US Accountant's Mistake"

The government explained that the tax delinquency controversy surrounding the U.S. consulting firm 'Actgeo,' which confirmed the possibility of oil and gas deposits in the deep sea of Yeongilman, Pohang, was "a delinquency due to an accountant's error." Although Actgeo was indeed in a state of tax delinquency when signing the service contract with the Korea National Oil Corporation, it maintained its corporate status, so there was no issue with the contract signing.

Choi Nam-ho, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, held a briefing at the Government Complex Sejong and said on the 10th, "Actgeo's delinquent tax amount is $1,650 (about 2 million KRW), which is a small amount," and "It was confirmed that this delinquency was due to an error by a U.S. accountant."

Choi Nam-ho, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, is giving a briefing on the 'East Sea Deep Sea Gas Field Development' at the Government Complex Sejong on the 10th.

Vice Minister Choi then emphasized that there was no problem with the contract signing with Actgeo. He said, "According to Texas case law, Actgeo's authority to sign contracts is not affected even in a state of forfeiture (tax delinquency)," and "In fact, Actgeo has been conducting normal business by making corporate disclosures every year since 2019, and it has been confirmed that they signed several contracts."

He also stated that the claim that Actgeo resolved its tax delinquency with the service fees received from the Korea National Oil Corporation is not true. Vice Minister Choi said, "In 2023, a competitive bidding involving three companies was conducted for the deep-sea comprehensive evaluation, and Actgeo was fairly selected after technical and price evaluations," and "The Korea National Oil Corporation paid Actgeo the service fees starting from May 2023, after Actgeo fully paid its taxes in March 2023."

Vice Minister Choi once again emphasized the promising nature of the East Sea deep-sea gas field development project and explained that Australia's Woodside withdrew without conducting sufficient evaluation. He said, "The exploration success rate expected before drilling the Guyana field, the largest deep-sea oil field of this century, was only 16%, and other experts also evaluated that a 20% success rate is sufficient to proceed with drilling," and "Woodside withdrew without completing the promising structure analysis, so it is not a matter of whether there is potential or not."

Meanwhile, the government plans to hold the 'East Sea Deep-Sea Gas Field Development Strategy Meeting' this month, attended by domestic and international experts, to discuss ways to successfully develop this project.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.