S. Korea to start gas hydrate drilling, search continental self in 2010

SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will drill for gas hydrates and search its continental shelf for energy resources in 2010, the government said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said as part of its plan to commercially use
gas hydrates starting from 2015, it will conduct detailed probes in the East Sea
in the coming months to determine the overall quantity of the resource that can
be developed.
Gas hydrates refer to a semisolid mixture of methane gas and water molecules that
are created by water pressure and cold temperatures found deep in the ocean.
Seoul speculated last year that judging by underwater topographical features the
size of the deposit off the coasts of the Korean Peninsula may be equal to 100
million tons of crude oil.
It added that the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. will take part in the U.S.
Alaska North Slope project that aims to extract hydrates from the sea bottom as a
way to gain valuable experience in extracting and processing the resource.
The country also plans to explore its continental shelf region for new oil and
gas fields.
At present, the country produces roughly 10,700 barrels equivalent of natural gas
and 1,000 barrels of high quality crude oil per day from its Donghae-1 field in
the East Sea.
"The continental shelf region had been 'overlooked' in the past, but there is a
need to change this stance and try to find untapped resources," the ministry said
in a statement.
The ministry said both local and overseas exploration and production could push
up the country's self sufficiency level in energy to 18.1 percent of domestic
demand by 2012 from just 8.1 percent in 2009.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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