DPRK-ROK oil exploration deal allegedly inked
According to the Korea Herald (h/t L.P.):
A number of economic cooperation projects appear ready to take shape between North Korea and China.
A businessman here claimed the North and China have signed a more concrete agreement last year following up on a 2005 preliminary deal to jointly develop an offshore oil field.
“The North has agreed with China to jointly develop an offshore oil field in the waters off Nampo,” a western coastal town, said Kim Young-il, chief executive of a South Korean trading firm and inter-Korean trade adviser to the Korea International Trade Association.
“The North Korea-China agreement on joint development of the oil field seems to have taken place last year.”
It is estimated that some 20 billion tons of crude oil is buried under the Bohai Gulf continental shelf which stretches across the Korea Bay between the North Pyongan Province and China’s Liaoning Province, Kim said during a policy debate session hosted by a legislator.
“The joint exploration would be economically viable because, once about a third of the oil reserve can be extracted, they can extract between 7 and 8 billion tons, enough to meet China’s entire demand for nearly 30 years,” Kim said.
Read the full story here:
Communist allies seek strategic interests
Korea Herald
Kim So-hyun
2011-6-1
