The Great Whale Ship departs this week.

Exploration and drilling work will begin this week to see if actual gas or oil is buried in the promising structure of the East Sea seabed, named the "Great Whale" amid the impeachment storm.

The West Capella, a drilling ship that is supplying supplies for work after anchoring at Busan Port, will depart on the 17th or 18th and move to the designated waters within the promising structure of the Great Whale in the East Sea.

If the marine environment is good, drilling will begin around the 20th, and Schlumberger, a U.S. oilfield development company commissioned by the Korea National Oil Corporation, is expected to analyze rocks and gases and release results in the first half of next year.

As the first drilling project budget of 49.7 billion won has been completely cut from the opposition-led budget, KNOC has to raise about 100 billion won in business expenses by issuing corporate bonds without government support.

Initially, the government and KNOC expected at least five exploration drilling to be needed over the next few years, considering a 20% chance of success, but observers say the business will weaken if there is no clear possibility in the first drilling.

Originally, this project was the oil corporation's own business, far from the national task proposed by the Yoon Suk Yeol government.

The Korea National Oil Corporation, led by President Kim Dong-seop, an oil development expert who has worked at oil major company Shell for more than 20 years, has promoted its own "Gwanggaeto Project" aimed at developing resources around the continental shelf in Korea.

President Kim was also appointed as the president of the Korea National Oil Corporation in 2021, during the Moon Jae In government.

Last year, KNOC concluded through the analysis of physical exploration data that up to 14 billion barrels of gas and oil were buried in seven promising structures in the East Sea, including the blue whale, and the need for development is high.

After receiving the report through the Ministry of Industry, the "Great Whale Project" was recognized as President Yoon's direct business as he volunteered for an emergency briefing to the public in June to raise public expectations.