South Korea initiates subaquatic drilling for hydrocarbons.
President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea has given the go-ahead for the initial probe into oil and gas reserves along the country's eastern coastline. In the region known as the Japanese Sea, or the East Sea as per South Korean nomenclature, there may be as many as 14 billion barrels of oil and gas, Yoon stated. Due to its heavy reliance on energy imports, South Korea has been yearning to unearth its own resource deposits since the late 90s.
"We're now entering the exploratory drilling phase to establish if oil and gas exist and how extensive the reservoir is," Yoon said. Industry Minister Ahn Duk Geun chipped in, "If the purported reserves hold true, we'll devise a spending policy and commence construction in 2027-2028," and demonstrated that gas extraction may possibly start as early as 2035.
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South Korea's dependence on energy imports is largely driven by its lack of domestic hydrocarbon resources. The test drillings along the eastern coastline, initiated by President Yoon Suk Yeol, aim to determine the existence and extent of oil and gas reserves. If successful, South Korea's heavy reliance on oil imports from countries like Middle East could potentially decrease with the extraction of gas starting as early as 2035.
