Kwon Hyangyeop: 126.3 Billion Won Lost at Sea Due to Daewang Whale Drilling Failure

5th Well Cost Reaches 600 Billion KRW... Government Faces Suspicion of Downplaying Figures
"Reliance on One-Person Company Evaluation, Taxpayers' Money Should Not Be Invested"

Kwon Hyangyeop, Member of the National Assembly.

On the 19th, Democratic Party lawmaker Kwon Hyangyeop (Suncheon, Gwangyang, Gokseong, Gurye-eul, Jeonnam) stated, "It has been confirmed that Korea National Oil Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the Corporation) spent as much as 126.3 billion KRW on the first drilling of Daewang-gorae."

According to the analysis of materials submitted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) to lawmaker Kwon, the budget required for the 'Exploratory Drilling in Domestic Block 8 and Northern Area of Block 6-1' amounts to 87.5 million USD. When converted at the exchange rate as of the 17th (standard rate 1,443.50), this is equivalent to 126,306,250,000 KRW.

Until now, the Corporation has announced through press releases and other channels that the cost of deep-sea exploratory drilling in the East Sea is about 100 billion KRW per well, and that drilling five wells would cost about 500 billion KRW. President Yoon Sukyeol and Minister of Industry Ahn Deokgeun also announced the drilling cost per well as 100 billion KRW. However, the official document dated March 18, 2023, titled 'Plan for Exploratory Drilling of Daewang-gorae-1 in the Northern Area of Domestic Block 8/6-1,' specified the required budget as 87.71 million USD, raising reasonable suspicion that the costs were understated in official announcements.

Lawmaker Kwon emphasized, "Due to the failure of the first drilling of Daewang-gorae, 126.3 billion KRW has sunk into the East Sea," and added, "We must not invest taxpayers' money based on evaluations dependent on a one-person company."

Meanwhile, it was found that the amount paid by the Corporation to Actgeo included not only about 1.8 billion KRW for the first evaluation service and about 2.5 billion KRW for the second evaluation service, but also additional payments. The Corporation accompanied Actgeo to pre-investment briefings for deep-sea projects in the East Sea from July to December last year, paying a total of 55,400 USD as labor costs, which amounts to about 80 million KRW. Until 2022, before signing a contract with the Corporation, Actgeo's annual sales were only in the 30 million KRW range.

Lawmaker Kwon pointed out, "It means that more than twice Actgeo's annual sales before the contract with the Corporation was paid in just half a year," and added, "It is difficult to understand why Actgeo is accompanying the Corporation in attracting investment."

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