S.Korea teams up with Malaysia on foreign oil hunt
Thu Dec 8, 2005
SEOUL, Dec 9 (Reuters) - State-run Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) has signed an agreement with Malaysian state oil and gas firm Petronas (PETR.UL: Quote, Profile, Research) to co-operate in the hunt for overseas oil assets, the Korean oil firm said on Friday. The latest pact agreed by KNOC followed a similar one signed with India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) (ONGC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) in late November.
The state oil firm is spearheading a push for overseas energy development projects in a bid to boost energy hungry South Korea's oil assets.
"The purpose of the agreement is for cooperation between the two companies on pursuing oil development projects abroad," KNOC said in a statement.
The two parties would hold talks to come up with detailed plans to participate in upstream oil projects in regions including Asia, Africa or Russia, it added.
South Korea, the world's fourth-biggest oil buyer, said earlier this year it aimed to raise crude oil and gas output from its energy projects abroad to 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2013, up five-fold from 2004.
The country has been seeking to secure stable energy supplies since it is vulnerable to global oil prices fluctuations given its total dependence on imports for its crude oil needs. To offset the risk, Seoul has been encouraging domestic companies to get involved in upstream oil projects abroad.
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