What Are the Earthquake Impacts of East Sea Exploration Drilling?... Korea National Oil Corporation Holds Forum on Safety and Response Measures

Safety Concerns Addressed Through Expert Discussions

"Strengthening Communication with Local Communities such as Pohang"

Korea National Oil Corporation (President Kim Dongseob) will hold an expert forum titled "East Sea Exploration Drilling Safety Review and Response Measures" at Pohang City Hall on October 8 to address concerns about the possibility of earthquakes caused by exploration drilling.

The corporation formed the "Domestic Continental Shelf Safety Response Task Force" last July to alleviate earthquake concerns among Pohang residents due to the development of the East Sea deep-sea gas field and to strengthen communication with the local community.

The Safety Response Task Force has been collecting domestic and international exploration drilling data to analyze correlations with earthquakes and has been working on technical safety reviews and establishing safety response plans with external expert consultations.

At this forum, the Safety Response Task Force will present its activities, including ▲pre-drilling risk analysis ▲plans for safe drilling operations ▲response measures in the event of induced earthquakes.

The Task Force will explain that a full investigation of 32 drilling operations previously conducted in the East Sea region found no history of earthquakes. Accordingly, they will announce that the possibility of induced earthquakes from East Sea deep-sea exploration drilling is low and will share safety response measures such as enhanced monitoring of formation pressure.

Additionally, in the expert discussion session, which will be attended by over 200 participants including domestic earthquake and drilling experts and representatives of Pohang civic groups, there will be discussions on the safety and response to East Sea drilling.

The experts for this session were selected in consultation with Pohang City to increase community acceptance.

Korea National Oil Corporation and Pohang City plan to use this expert forum as an opportunity to alleviate concerns about the safety of East Sea exploration drilling, build trust, actively communicate with local organizations, and prioritize safety response measures.