GS Group, together with state-run Korea National Oil Corporation, has signed a deal with the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. for the 40-year oil concession. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, May 13 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean energy firm GS Energy Corp. said Wednesday it has won a 3 percent stake in an oil concession in the United Arab Emirates, joining major players from Japan and France to pump oil from the largest oil field in the Middle East country over the next four decades.
The energy unit of energy and retail conglomerate GS Group, together with state-run Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), has signed a deal with the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) for the 40-year oil concession, GS Energy said, without disclosing the amount of the agreement.
ADNOC has been seeking new partnerships with overseas companies for the US$22 billion project to dig oil from the nation’s largest onshore oil field. The field produces 1.6 million barrels per day and output is expected to rise to 1.8 million from 2017.
The Korean firm estimated it would acquire about 800 million barrels of crude under the deal.
France’s Total SA acquired a 10 percent share in the oil field in January, and Japan’s Inpex won a 5 percent stake last month.
ADNOC had partnered with four oil giants — ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and BP — in the concession since the 1970s, but it has been looking for new partners after the old contracts expired last year.
In 2012, GS Energy formed a consortium with KNOC to ink a deal with ADNOC to develop oil exploration blocks in Abu Dhabi, and it is set to begin commercial production as early as 2017.
(Yonhap)
