‘Gwanggaeto Project’ Proclaimed... Korea National Oil Corporation Symposium on Energy Security and Domestic Continental Shelf Resource Development

Research on Domestic Continental Shelf Oil Potential and CCS Storage Evaluation Announced

MOU to Establish and Operate Industry-Academia-Research Cooperation Platform Among Participating Institutions

Declaration of Launching 'Gwanggaeto' Mid

Korea National Oil Corporation (President Kim Dong-seop) held a symposium on June 30 at the InterContinental Hotel in Seoul under the theme of "Energy Security and Domestic Continental Shelf Resource Development."

The event was attended by over 200 participants, including key figures in domestic energy policy and resource development such as Yoo Beom-min, Director General of the Resource Industry Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Choi Yeon-hye, President of Korea Gas Corporation, Lee Pyeong-gu, President of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, as well as university officials in the fields of geology and resources.

Members of the National Assembly’s Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee, Kwon Myung-ho of the People Power Party and Kim Hoe-jae of the Democratic Party, delivered video congratulatory remarks expressing their continuous interest and support for the field of energy security.

At the symposium, active presentations and discussions were held by experts from various sectors on the importance of energy security and the continental shelf, including research results on the exploration potential of oil, gas, and carbon dioxide storage sites in domestic offshore blocks.

The Korea National Oil Corporation explained that amid the global energy supply instability and fierce competition among countries to secure marine resources, this symposium was organized to explore efficient ways to promote the government’s national agenda of "establishing energy security" and "achieving carbon neutrality," as well as to strengthen cooperative relationships among domestic companies and institutions with strengths in resource development.

Key attendees of the symposium are taking a commemorative photo. (From the fourth person on the left in the front row: Lee Pyeong-gu, President of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources; Kim Dong-seop, President of Korea National Oil Corporation; Yoo Beop-min, Director General of the Resource Industry Policy Bureau, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy; Choi Yeon-hye, President of Korea Gas Corporation)

The signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) among 14 institutions, held as the first agenda of the symposium, attracted attention.

Korea National Oil Corporation, Korea Gas Corporation, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, and 11 domestic universities agreed to strengthen the research cooperation foundation among domestic resource development-related organizations through an industry-academia-research MOU. The agreement includes ▲sharing data and conducting joint research on domestic continental shelf resource development, ▲providing mutual education and training opportunities to nurture talent in the resource development field, and ▲conducting joint research to achieve the government’s carbon neutrality policy goals.

A representative of the Korea National Oil Corporation explained that the main purpose of this agreement is to establish and operate a "Domestic Continental Shelf Resource Development Industry-Academia-Research Cooperation Platform" to maximize sharing and utilization of each participating institution’s strengths and knowledge by field, thereby enhancing the expertise of national resource development.

Following the MOU signing ceremony, the symposium proceeded with a keynote speech by Professor Ahn Se-hyun of the University of Seoul on the theme of "The Importance of Energy Security and the Continental Shelf," followed by a panel discussion among heads of resource-related institutions and academic societies. In the afternoon, presentations on research achievements regarding the potential of domestic continental shelf resource development and active free discussions among key researchers from industry, academia, and research institutes took place.

The event was broadcast live on the Korea National Oil Corporation’s YouTube channel. The panelists agreed that professional and systematic research and exploration of the domestic continental shelf must precede in order for South Korea to achieve the dual goals of establishing national energy security and attaining carbon neutrality in the era of future energy transition.

In his opening remarks, Kim Dong-seop, President of Korea National Oil Corporation, emphasized the necessity of industry-academia-research cooperation for the mutual growth of the domestic resource development industry and announced the launch of the "Gwanggaeto Project," a mid- to long-term master plan for domestic continental shelf development established by the corporation.

The Gwanggaeto (廣開土) Project refers to the master plan for domestic continental shelf development established by Korea National Oil Corporation in 2022, aiming to secure maritime sovereignty over the entire territorial waters of the Republic of Korea, strengthen energy security, and simultaneously achieve carbon neutrality goals.

It is a mid- to long-term strategic plan to conduct a total of 24 exploration drillings and approximately 17,000 km² of physical surveys by 2031, develop a new gas field with a scale of 1 trillion cubic feet?four times that of the East Sea gas field?and secure a CCS storage capacity of 4 million tons per year.

Kim Dong-seop, who also chaired the discussion session that day, stated, "Korea National Oil Corporation will actively contribute to establishing South Korea’s energy security by continuously discovering second and third East Sea gas fields through ongoing exploration activities and securing promising CCS storage sites to achieve the national carbon neutrality goals."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.