A service report submitted to the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) suggests that there is a high possibility of an additional 5.17 billion barrels (Bbl; 1 barrel is approximately 159L) of gas and oil being buried in the Ulleung Basin, where the East Sea deep-sea gas field development (the Blue Whale Project) is underway.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) on the 3rd, the American deep-sea technology evaluation company, Actgeo, submitted a service report titled 'Additional Potential Assessment of the Ulleung Basin' in December of last year. Actgeo conducted physical exploration analysis of the 'Blue Whale promising structure' in the East Sea, which the government announced in June of last year may have up to 14 billion barrels of oil and gas buried.
The report indicates that 14 new promising structures with a high likelihood of gas and oil reserves have been discovered in the East Sea Ulleung Basin area, with more than 5 billion barrels of oil and gas believed to be buried. The promising structure with the highest exploration resource volume is reported to be the 'Goblin shark.' It is estimated that up to 1.29 billion barrels of gas and oil are buried in this structure alone.
A representative from the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) noted, 'As part of the East Sea deep-sea gas field project, we conducted an additional potential assessment service for the East Sea Ulleung Basin,' adding, 'We plan to secure reliability through verification and expert consultations going forward.' If verification is passed, the total estimated gas and oil reserves in the East Sea deep-sea will exceed 1.9 billion barrels.
The Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) began exploratory drilling at one of the promising structures of the Blue Whale in December of last year, with results expected in the first half of this year.