Korea National Oil Corp. CEO Suh Moon-kyu (right and on the main screen) delivers a speech at the 2013 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference. (KNOC)
The state-run Korea National Oil Corp. said it was starting to see tangible results from its crude explorations in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.
Most recently, KNOC announced that it had discovered oil reserves at its Banan-1 facility, in which the company began drilling in September 2013 and reached its goal of 4,000 meters by January 2014.
Located at the Hawler oil field in Iraq, Banan is KNOC’s fourth successful crude discovery in the region after Demir Dagh in March 2013, Ain Al Safra in October 2013 and Zey Gawra in November 2013.
The Demir Dagh site, the company’s first large-scale discovery in the area, is estimated to hold 550 million barrels of crude.
KNOC first joined the drilling projects in the Hawler field in November 2008 and holds a 15 percent stake in its reserves.
Apart from the Hawler field, the company is also currently exploring two more oil fields within Iraq’s crude area.
In the UAE, KNOC is involved in three oil fields ― two on land and one on sea ― of which 40 percent is held by a Korean consortium between KNOC and GS Energy.
Korea is part of a business collaboration with the UAE that was agreed upon in November 2011 regarding joint oil-stockpiling.
Under the settlement, Korea is to store 6 million barrels of oil at its facilities, of which 2 million barrels arrived in late September 2013 and 4 million barrels are expected to follow within the next six months.
Not only will this further strengthen the energy cooperation between the two nations, but it will also provide benefits such as priority in purchasing the stored oil, the company said.
By Kim Joo-hyun (
jhk@heraldcorp.com)