Oil, Gas Self-Sufficiency Rises to 4.2%
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
South Korea’s efforts to explore and develop gas and oil fields abroad have been translated to self-sufficiency in crucial energy sources reaching 4.2 percent.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) Tuesday, the amount of oil and gas produced by local firms in foreign countries increased to 45.7 million barrels, up 32 percent from the previous year.
Ministry officials added that the total volume of oil and gas in overseas reserves secured by South Korean energy companies also rose by 200 million barrels to 2.25 billion barrels in 2007.
``As a result, the self-sufficiency rate for the crude oil and natural gas increased to 3.0 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively,’’ one of the officials said.
``With oil and gas together, the self-sufficiency rate topped 4.2 percent of total demand last year,’’ he added. ``And this rebound is noteworthy since the rate fell from 4.1 percent in 2005 to 3.2 percent in 2006.’’
The state-run Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) and the Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) have stepped up efforts along with private energy firms of the country recently to secure more natural resources.
MOCIE said that the start of commercial operations at the BMC-8 oil field in Brazil and greater output from offshore blocks in Britain and Vietnam helped boost the annual oil production by more than 1.34 million barrels from a year earlier.
As for natural gas, total output was augmented thanks to the start of operations at Vietnam's 11-2 field and the expanded production at the Ras Laffan well in Qatar and Camisea well in Peru.
``By investment volume,’’ another ministry official said, ``the year 2007 saw a record $2.55 billion worth of funds put into overseas energy development projects, with a 79 percent increase in local company investment in new development works.’’
According to investment plans of each enterprise, investment could reach some $5.6 billion, more than double last year’s figure, the MOCIE said.
South Korea, which relies heavily on imports of crude oil and other raw materials for economic growth, has a mid-term plan to push up its energy self-sufficiency rate to 5.7 percent by the end of this year and up to 20 percent by 2013.