A new dream to find in the deep sea...Korea, to become an oil producer!

[Anchor]
Not long ago, seven promising structures were discovered in the Ulleung Basin in the East Sea that could contain a significant amount of oil and gas.

The first expedition is planned later this year, and the so-called "Great Whale Project" is drawing public attention.

YTN's special documentary shows Korea once again challenging its dream of becoming an oil producing country.

This is reporter Park Na-yeon.

[Reporter]
A 'oil producing country' that refers to a country that produces petroleum crude oil on its territory or waters.

Korea lost its status as an oil producer when the production of the Donghae gas field ended in 2021, and there was a possibility that it could be recovered.

Recently, we found a structure that meets the conditions for oil to be accumulated in the Ulleung Basin in the East Sea.

[Ahn Deok-geun / Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy: Overseas companies and domestic and foreign experts have completed their verification and believe that the probability is quite high, so we are trying to explore as carefully as possible and produce good results.]

This is the result of years of physical exploration to understand the structure of deep-sea topography, and it is thanks to the 'Gwanggaeto Project' that has been promoted since 2022.

The amount of exploration resources identified so far is between 3.5 billion and 14 billion barrels, and the expected profit is 11 trillion won.

First exploration drilling is set for later this year to see if there are any resource reserves,
As the depth of the
promising structure is about 1,200 meters deep in the sea, we plan to use ship-type drilling ships.

We are currently working on a service contract for drilling ships and drilling materials, and after the drilling ship enters Korea in December, the drilling results will be confirmed in the first half of next year.

[Kim Dong-seop / President of Korea National Oil Corporation: Our goal is to excavate large oil fields on our land and produce oil and gas by ourselves. Today's exploration and drilling is the first step.]

There is also a question of why oil resource development should continue in the era of energy transition.

Experts point out that with fossil fuels such as oil and gas still accounting for 83% of energy worldwide, securing oil on our land is important for energy security.

[Shin Hyun-don / Professor of Energy Resources Engineering at Inha University] Plan B is a part of the responsibility of the state because it is not clear whether the transition (energy) will take place as much as we want at the time we want.]

This blue whale project is expected to provide a foothold for Korean companies to build technology in the mining process and further enter the international resource development market beyond resource discovery.

YTN's special documentary "The Dream of an Oil Country," which consists of two parts, including challenges to becoming an oil-producing country and a journey to becoming an energy powerhouse, will be available today (5th), tomorrow (6th), and 9:15 p.m.

I'm Park Nayeon of YTN Science.


Video editing: Kim Young-hwan