18-11-04

South Korea is becoming increasingly self-sufficient in oil as local firms become more involved in overseas oil development projects, a trade group said.

In the first six months of the year, the amount of crude oil produced by local firms at overseas plants came to 14.8 mm barrels, accounting for 3.6 % of South Korea's total oil imports, the Korea Petroleum Association said.

South Korea's oil consumption is fully supplied with imports. The figure compares with 2 % in 2001 and 2.7 % in 2002. The rate stood at 3 % last year.

The country's self-sufficiency rate in LNG production has been steady at around 3.5 % for the past few years. In the January-June period, the amount of LNG produced by domestic firms at overseas plants stood at 361,000 tons.

South Korean firms are currently active in 125 oil-production projects in 39 countries.

Source: Asia Pulse