Development of East Sea Deep Sea Gas Field, Block Reassignment... "Stepwise Investment Attraction by Block"

The government has decided to redesign the Donghae deep-sea gas field blocks for efficient investment attraction and development.

Choi Nam-ho, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said at the Government Complex Sejong on the 10th, "The seven promising structural areas identified this time span across several parts of the existing blocks," adding, "We plan to re-divide the blocks considering the structures of these seven promising sites."

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Currently, the Donghae deep-sea area is divided into three zones: Block 8, Block 6-1 Northern, and Block 6-1 Central-Eastern.

Vice Minister Choi explained, "The blocks set before the identification of promising structures were not optimized for investment attraction and development," and added, "Block division is important because future investment attraction and exploration will basically focus on the newly divided blocks, especially for attracting overseas investment."

To this end, the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) will temporarily return the Donghae deep-sea blocks, in which it currently holds 100% equity, to the government. The government plans to grant new development rights to KNOC according to the distribution of promising structures.

Vice Minister Choi said, "Regarding overseas investment attraction, negotiations are necessary, so I cannot provide specific details, but multiple companies have shown interest," and added, "We will promote phased investment attraction by the redesigned blocks, differentiating based on foreign equity participation, participation level, and timing."

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