Desert Love
New oil deal underlines strengthening ties between Korea, UAE
By Kim Tae-gyu
Several years ago, most Koreans had little interest in the far-away Middle East state of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Now, however, it feels like a brother.
Over the past few years, a host of events have taken place to strengthen relationships between the two nations and the starting point was clearly the waning days of 2009.
Back then, the United Arab Emirates surprised the world by picking a Korean consortium led by Korea Electric Power Corp. for the $18.6 billion project of building four nuclear reactors by 2020.
This week’s agreements offering Korean players the rights for three oilfields in the oil-rich UAE territory highlight the closer relationship between the two. The size of the three oil lands is equivalent to 11 percent of the Middle East nation’s territory.
The UAE has not brought any new players to its oil development during the past three decades ever since doing so with Japan in the 1970s.
Present at the signing ceremony of the mega contract, Minister of Knowledge Economy Hong Suk-woo said that the strategic collaboration will continue over 100 years.
``The oilfield contract will further beef up the centennial partnership of the two allies, which was established after the nuclear energy deal in 2009,’’ said Hong who is in charge of monitoring Korea’s energy industry.
Perfect partner
Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) thinks that Korea and the UAE are perfect partners for each other because their strengths can cover the shortfalls of the other.
``We have cutting-edge technology while the UAE holds abundant financial leeway. The combination is expected to come up with a great synergy across the board,’’ an MKE official said.
``The UAE maintains a favorable image of Koreans, who the country believes are diligent. We also have very amicable impressions of the UAE after the 2009 nuclear contract and other cases of cooperation afterwards.’’
Korea is well known for its technological edges in such areas as semiconductors, automobiles, flat-panel displays, digital devices, nuclear generation and shipbuilding to name a few.
The UAE boasts rich oil dollars as demonstrated by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which runs the world’s largest sovereign fund, whose size is around $630 billion.
The MKE also noted that the two state’s long-term goals are complimentary to each other.
``Korea puts low-carbon green growth as its top priority while the UAE has prepared for the post-oil era. There are good reasons why the two have shown such great chemistry.’’
Further cooperation
The successful 2009 nuclear bid caught the world by surprise because the Korean consortium beat conventional powerhouses of France, Japan and the United States.
After the largest energy pact in the Middle East, Korea and the UAE have sought broad-based economic cooperation in various sectors like nuclear power generation, renewable energy, information technology and shipbuilding.
The United Arab Emirates once considered buying Korea’s T-50 supersonic trainer aircraft although the negotiations eventually broke down.
In addition to the treaty offering drilling rights for three oilfields reached Monday, the UAE is now in talks with Korea with regard to large-sized oilfields whose crude reservoirs top 1 billion barrels.
It promised to enable Korea to take part in a project to develop its giant fields during a meeting where political heads of the two met early last year.
The deal is expected to materialize in the near future.