Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) has signed a contract to develop three undeveloped oil blocks in Abu Dhabi with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
Highly prospective areas
Under the contract, Korea will take a 40 per cent interest in the fields (KNOC 34 per cent, GS Energy 6 per cent), with the remaining 60 per cent being held by ADNOC.
The contract covers three undeveloped oil blocks, two onshore and one offshore, which have high exploration potential, the company said in a statement.
The combined oil initially in place for the blocks stands at 570mn barrels. The area covered by the blocks is 11,560km², one tenth of the Abu Dhabi area.
Oil production
Development work will commence immediately with production expected to begin in the coming years. Oil production is expected to begin in 2014, if the development starts as planned later this month, and could rise to 43,000 barrels per day
Memorandum of Understanding
Commenting on the announcement, Hong Suk Woo, Minister of the Department of Knowledge Economy, said: "The contract between the governments of Korea and UAE are in three highly prospective areas and will allow Korea to secure up to an additional 570 million barrels of discovered petroleum initially in place."
This contract further strengthens the important relationship between both governments following last year's Memorandum of Understanding for co-operation in the oil and gas sector.
