South Korea aims to nearly double its self-sufficiency ratio for oil and gas to 20% next year by acquiring new energy assets, an upward revision of a previous 18% target, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Thursday.
South Korea
aims
to nearly double its self-sufficiency ratio for oil and gas to 20% next year by
acquiring new energy assets, an upward revision of a previous 18% target, the
Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Thursday.
In one of its latest attempts to boost energy security, the resource-deprived
Asian country announced that it will target a significant rise in its ability
to meet its own demand for natural resources ranging from oil to metals, which
is expected to be largely driven by the nation's two energy arms--Korea
National Oil Corp. and Korea Gas Corp. (036460.SE).
Korea National Oil Corp., or KNOC, will have to be "more aggressive"
in overseas asset purchases said an official at the company, who declined to be
named. He said KNOC will need to seek to buy multiple oil blocks of an
"adequate size," including those that can produce at least 50,000
barrels a day.
Separately, Korea Gas Corp., or Kogas, said it has set aside about KRW2.3
trillion ($2.1 billion) for overseas resource development investments this
year, with its next project likely to take place in the U.S., Venezuela, Papua
New Guinea, or China.
Boosted by its overseas investments, Kogas plans to significantly increase
annual output of oil and gas to approximately 2 million metric tons this year
from 770,000 tons last year.
South Korea's oil and gas production was 342,000 barrels a day last year,
compared with imports of 3.15 million barrels a day, resulting in a self
sufficiency ratio of 10.8%, the government said earlier this year.
To achieve a ratio of 20%,
South
Korea
would need to nearly double
its daily oil and gas production, assuming its energy imports remain constant.
Energy imports have stayed at similar levels for the past few years, and it's
"not easy to reduce [oil and gas] imports," particularly those
intended for industrial use, another KNOC official said by phone. KNOC will opt
to buy new assets, but it still "won't be easy" to achieve the 20%
target, he said.
In line with a government plan to boost
South
Korea
's self productivity for oil,
KNOC will expand oil output to at least 300,000 barrels a day by next year, the
ministry said in a statement. The company has plans to sell a 29% stake in the
U.S. Ankor oil block to fund a part of its new energy asset purchases.
Resources for which the government aims to boost self sufficiency for include
six strategic minerals--soft coal, uranium, iron ore, copper, zinc and nickel. The
government plans to up the ratio to 32% next year from 27% last year, the
commerce ministry said in a statement.
The government's plan comes just months after
South
Korea
initially agreed on a major
deal with the
United Arab Emirates
that
will give the Asian country the right to produce at least 1 billion barrels
from oil fields in the UAE.
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