By KUNA
Tokyo : South Korean energy developers are moving to secure development rights to four oil fields in northern Iraq that may hold enough crude to supply the country for up to two years, local media reported Thursday.
The deal that is to be signed in Seoul later in the day between a local consortium led by state-run Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) and officials from Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan could allow local energy companies to gain access to 1-2 billion barrels of untapped crude oil, according to Yonhap News Agency.
South Korea is the fifth-largest oil importer and seventh-largest consuming nation in the world.
The memorandum of understanding calls for the consortium to develop oil while helping build up basic infrastructure that can ensure continued growth of the largely underdeveloped region, the agency said.
“Details of how oil will be divided between South Korean companies and the local government will be decided at a later date,” a KNOC official was quoted as saying.
South Korean companies are concentrating on northern Iraq because US and western oil companies are expected to win most of the rights to new oil fields in the central and southern parts of the Middle Eastern country.
The nation has been pushing to win development rights for oil and gas fields as well as mineral mines overseas by linking them with the construction of various social and industrial infrastructure projects.
The KNOC also said it plans to set up a local office to start development of the Bazian oil field that is estimated to hold around 500 million barrels of crude, and it has already signed a contract for development of the field.