South Korea to explore vast oil, gas prospects off east coast, but is it too early to celebrate?
- The potential massive reserves off Yeongil Bay could meet South Korea’s gas demands for 29 years and oil needs for four years if confirmed
- Energy experts caution that exploration sites often turn out to be unproductive, say it could be President Yoon Suk-yeol’s tactic to boost low approval ratings
Analysts said, however, that it was too soon to say whether the find would necessarily lead to a viable source of domestic energy production and suggested the premature announcement could have been a strategic move meant to boost the embattled president’s flagging political fortunes.
“Recently, it was found that there is a very high possibility that up to 14 billion barrels of oil and gas exist in the seabed, which has been verified by leading research institutes and experts,” Yoon said during a rare news conference on Monday.
Yoon said the potentially massive reserves could meet South Korea’s gas demands for 29 years and oil demands for four years.
The president said he gave the green light to conduct exploration drilling to confirm the energy reserve off Yeongil Bay near the city of Pohang, about 260km southeast of Seoul.
