[Special Stock] Korea Gas Corporation Rises Over 6% on Possibility of Additional Oil Fields in Donghae

The possibility has been raised that up to 5.17 billion barrels of additional gas and oil reserves exist in the Ulleung Basin, where the East Sea deep-sea gas field development (Daewanggorae Project) is underway, leading to a rise in the stock price of Korea Gas Corporation.

As of 9:43 a.m. on the 3rd, Korea Gas Corporation is trading at 36,300 KRW, up 2,100 KRW (6.14%) from the previous trading day.

It was recently revealed that Actgeo, a U.S.-based deep-sea technology evaluation specialist company, submitted a report to Korea National Oil Corporation last December indicating the possibility of an additional 5.1 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves. Actgeo conducted physical exploration analysis of the East Sea's 'Daewanggorae Prospective Structure,' which the government announced in June last year could contain up to 14 billion barrels of oil and gas.

Following this news, stocks related to the East Sea deep-sea gas field development, including Korea Gas Corporation, showed strong performance in early trading. The stock prices of steel pipe and oil-related companies such as Hwaseong Valve (13.04%), Korea Petroleum (10.6%), Dongyang Steel Pipe (7.22%), and GS Global (3.01%) also rose.

Currently, the government has initiated a process for experts to verify the contents of the report. The verification process is expected to be completed as early as March. If the verification passes, the total estimated reserves of gas and oil in the East Sea deep-sea area will exceed 19 billion barrels.

However, at this stage, since the Korea National Oil Corporation has only received the service results, further expert verification is necessary. This verification will be conducted mainly by domestic experts, including academic societies.