In 2022, South Korea’s state-run oil company, the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), formed a team for the “Gwanggaeto Project.” The team was created to “find new resources and establish energy security,” inspired by King Gwanggaeto the Great, who expanded Korea’s territory in the 4th century. For about a year, the team explored the seabed of the Korean Peninsula, focusing on the East Sea near Pohang in North Gyeongsang Province. After identifying the potential for new oil and gas fields in this area, they began collecting data using seismic waves and supercomputers.
Despite their initial findings, the team was uncertain about the actual presence and quantity of reserves. Looking for ways to analyze the data they had accumulated, the team turned to ACT Geo, a global deep-sea exploration technology evaluation company. ACT Geo had participated in the exploration of the Guyana Stabroek Block in South America, one of the largest oil development projects of this century.
KNOC sent all their accumulated data to ACT Geo in February last year. Ten months later, at the end of last year, KNOC received a report indicating up to potentially 14 billion barrels of oil and gas. This prompted President Yoon Suk-yeol to authorize the exploration of the Yeongil Bay area. “The latest findings indicate a very high potential for up to 14 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves, verified by leading research institutions and experts,” Yoon said during a national briefing on June 3.
The company first conducted a 2D exploration of the Yeongil Bay area, a planar scan of a large area to roughly identify prospective resource regions. This method uses seismic sensors arranged in a straight line to capture seismic wave data from the predicted deposit areas, which were then analyzed by a supercomputer. Following the 2D exploration, the company conducted a 3D exploration to determine the spatial scale of the exploration regions.
Even after receiving the evaluation results from ACT Geo, the government and KNOC spent half a year on evaluation and verification. “We took extreme caution by triple- and quadruple-checking the assessment results to ensure their reliability, including having them verified by an advisory group of domestic and international experts,” said a Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy official.
The government will begin borehole drilling later this year to confirm the presence of oil and gas reserves. Once the reserves and areas are confirmed, construction will commence in 2027-2028, with commercial development starting in 2035.
If actual oil and gas reserves are found, South Korea, historically considered a country lacking in natural resources, will quickly become the world’s 11th largest oil producer in terms of reserves. Although drilling and exploration must be completed before commercial production, experts are optimistic that production will be successful, considering the country has accumulated technology and expertise over the years.
During the former Park Chung-hee administration in 1976, the government announced the discovery of crude oil and gas in the Yeongil Bay area. It turned out that diesel oil had leaked into the ground, leading to this incorrect analysis. This time, the possibility of actual reserves buried in the deep waters of the East Sea is higher. Exploration technology has improved significantly over the last 50 years, greatly increasing the accuracy of the assessment. The estimated reserves are more than 300 times larger than those of the East Sea gas field discovered in the 1990s, raising expectations that “this time will be different.”
Once the potential reserves are confirmed and commercial production begins, the conditions for sales and exports are expected to be favorable, according to experts. Korea already possesses the necessary infrastructure, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, to use or export natural gas. Korea is also close to China and Japan, the world’s two largest LNG consumers. Unlike the Stabroek block offshore Guyana, which lacks LNG terminals and demand from nearby countries, Korea’s advanced infrastructure and favorable investment conditions are expected to facilitate efficient development and export of the resources.
