Securing Stable Supplies
of Petroleum
KNOC intent on domestic and overseas petroleum exploration

The Korea National Oil Corporation will put more energy into discovering additional petroleum and gas reserves from the domestic continental shelves, KNOC CEO Hwang Doo-yul said in his New Year's message.
KNOC President Hwang noted that KNOC's management conditions are never favorable amid a forecast that crude oil price hikes would persist and competition would become fierce over stable supplies of petroleum among nations. "Despite these, securing stable supplies of petroleum is a mission given to us that is never overlooked,"he said.
A success in the development of the Donghae-1 Gas Field - the nation's first successful exploration, production and marketing- was achieved based on technological power acquired on its own and negotiating abilities. Capitalizing on the experiences, he said, KNOC expects to successfully prospect and drill the coast areas of the East Sea in a bid to secure additional petroleum and gas fields with economically feasible reserves.
KNOC will make preparations for the development and production of Gorae VIII, another discovery of a gas field with commercially viable gas reserves without a hitch, he said.
As far as overseas oil exploration, President Hwang said, KNOC should have an optimal asset portfolio comprising of prospecting, development and production. To this end, he said, KNOC will have to build a strong business structure by raising the success rate of the ongoing and newly launched prospecting projects and securing promising petroleum deposits under development and production.
KNOC will put its focus on establishing the stable production and supply system of the existing fields, including Vietnamese 15-1 Mining Zone and Libyan Elephant Oil Field and securing additional reserves. The state-run Korean corporation will make every effort to make production of Vietnamese 11-2 Mining Zone a success.
The KNOC president urged KNOC to redouble efforts to ensure project management in a bid to beef up feasibility of new projects in strategic prospecting areas, while improving technological capabilities and effective operation of mining zones, an essential factor for determining the success or failure of a project, to world-class levels.
CEO Hwang said KNOC has to go to great pains to capitalize on the world-class petroleum storage capacity to make profits. It needs to strengthen such business areas as international joint stockpiling projects, trading and leasing stored petroleum while trying to suggest new business ideas and put them into practice so that the goal of developing Korea into a Northeast Asia petroleum distribution center can be realized, he said.
KNOC will have to reinforce its capabilities to cope with a petroleum supply crisis as well as the safety and environmental management of stored petroleum, he noted.
The corporation will make sure to meet the process goals of constructing the third petroleum stockpiling complex through thorough construction, quality and environment management as well as to actively participate in the construction of production facilities.
In the information service area, he said, KNOC is required to enhance its standing as one of Korea's best petroleum information providers by raising the reliability of information and service qualities as well as to ensure the timely provision of useful information on petroleum and meet the public demands on information. The corporation will have to gather and analyze information to ensure the performance of projects. nw

KNOC CEO Hwang Doo-yul