Aberdeen and London (Photo: a screenshot from Google Maps)
SEOUL, Jun. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – An analysis by the American consulting firm Act-Geo of seismic data from a deep-water energy exploration project in the East Sea has sparked controversy, with questions emerging about the verification process and accuracy of claims made by the firm’s adviser.
Vitor Abreu, an adviser to Act-Geo, which was hired to evaluate data from surveys of the South Korean-controlled waters, has made statements that appear to contradict facts.
Inaccuracies have also surfaced in materials distributed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the state-run Korea National Oil Corporation regarding the project in the East Sea, also referred to as the Sea of Japan.
At a news conference on June 7 in the government complex in the city of Sejong, Abreu said the firm had recently opened an office in London, adding that it was headed by a “new director, Dr. Rene Jonk.”
He stated that Jonk’s residence was registered as the address for the London office.
However, Act-Geo’s British office is not in London but in Aberdeen, about 640 kilometers north, suggesting Abreu misspoke.
An interpreter repeated the word “London” three times, and Abreu had ample opportunity to correct himself if it was simply a slip of the tongue.
Act-Geo’s British office is not in London but in Aberdeen, about 640 kilometers north. (Photo: a screenshot from Google Street View)
There also appear to be discrepancies in how Jonk, who runs Act-Geo’s British operation, has been portrayed.
The company has described him as an honorary professor at the University of Aberdeen, but a check of the university’s website found no listing for him among the faculty, researchers and staff in the geology and geophysics department.
Beyond Jonk, questions have arisen about Abreu’s background as well. In materials provided by the Trade Ministry ahead of a briefing by a vice minister, Abreu was said to currently deliver lectures on sequence stratigraphy at Rice University as a successor to the honorary professor Peter Vail. Act-Geo’s website also refers to Abreu as a current professor.
The company has described him as an honorary professor at the University of Aberdeen, but a check of the university’s website found no listing for him. (Photo: a screenshot from Act-Geo’s website)
But Rice University’s online faculty directories no longer list Abreu. While an outdated version of the department’s website showed him listed under “past” roles, he does not appear on the current site.
The ministry’s materials seem to have overstated Abreu’s present affiliation with Rice. (Vail, the stratigraphy expert, does remain listed as an honorary faculty member.)
Separately, the broadcaster MBC has reported that two of the seven promising geological structures identified in Act-Geo’s analysis had previously been examined and dismissed as unviable by Woodside, a major Australian energy firm that relinquished its exploration rights in the area last year.
The state oil company said those two structures had been included in Act-Geo’s assessment but were not considered promising due to a lack of additional data.
Amid the questions, the Trade Ministry told a meeting of ruling party lawmakers that it considered Act-Geo “an expert consulting firm in deep-sea exploration and evaluation” with “highly skilled personnel” in that domain.
But the series of apparent contradictions and inconsistencies could undermine confidence in the project as a whole.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
