LG-Caltex
Strikes Oil in Cambodia
- All of the four drilling wells presumed to have quality crude oil

LG-Caltex Oil has discovered oil off the south coast of Cambodia, joining the ranks of Korean companies which have managed to have made a strong showing in their bid to explore fossil-fuel resources overseas.
LG-Caltex Oil officials confirmed that the company found oil in all of the four drilling wells in Cambodia's offshore Block A Mining Zone.
A survey on the four drilling wells showed that the crude layers measure 12.5 meters to 42.4 meters, depending on the drilling wells, and the drilled oil was found to be equivalent to API 44, a kind of quality light crude oil. More than 35 in the API (American Petroleum Institute) scale means quality crude products.
After drilling one more well, the fifth one in the block by the end of February, LG-Caltex Oil plans to determine oil deserves in the area and its economic viability.
LG-Caltex Oil, the nation's second largest refinery, has a 15 percent interest in the exploration project, along with LG's parent company Chevron Texaco Corp. with a 55 percent stake and Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration Corp with a 30 percent interest.
Such Korean companies as Daewoo International and SK Corp. have discovered oil in their exploration projects overseas in recent years.
Korea, a country with poor resources, has made headway in its efforts to strike oil. Last November, the country produced its first natural gas from a field in the East Sea. About 5 million metric tons worth an estimated $1.2 billion was prospected.
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy plans to extend a package of support measures, including creation of a private sector fund, in a bid to spur Korean companies' efforts to explore overseas resources development markets in an era of crude oil hikes. Korea now wants to raise its oil supply self-sufficiency rate from the current 3 percent to 10 percent by 2020 in its rush for securing crude oil with foreign countries. nw