SEOUL, KOREA – The Korea Gas Corp. will set out on developing an offshore natural gas field near the Republic of Cyprus, the southern part of the island of Cyprus, in partnership with Italy's multinational oil company ENI S.p.A.
If the exploration project turns out successful, KOGAS is expected to secure the supply of 60-million-ton natural gas. Currently Korea's annual natural gas consumption is about 30 million tons.

 

According to the company on December 2, the KOGAS-ENI consortium has recently been selected as a preferred negotiating partner for exploring the No. 2 and 3 fields in the Levantine Basin. The estimated reserves in the fields are 147 million and 154 million tons, respectively. KOGAS will hold a 20-percent stake in the development project.

 

Once the project is up and running, it will be the second largest gas development project after the Mozambique project the company had recently discovered in the East African country.

 

The company is optimistic that there would be little political risk involved in the project as the potential adversaries such as Israel and Russia have participated in the development project with an implicit consent of the Turkish-supported Northern Cyprus government.