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Page added on September 23, 2009

South Korea plans to buy 2 foreign oil companies this year

South Korea plans to buy two foreign oil companies by the end of this year, Vice Knowledge Economy Minister Kim Young-hak said on Tuesday.

The government is currently beefing up exclusive negotiations with five companies, and mergers and acquisition deals with two are expected to be reached this year, Kim was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying, without giving further details on what companies are engaging in negotiations. If the purchase project is achieved, the total volume of oil that can be produced from fields controlled by South Korean companies could rise from current 1.1 billion barrels to nearly 6.5 billion barrels, Kim said.

Besides, the country has already took stakes of several oil fields in northern Iraq, which could product nearly three billion barrels, Kim said. The government is making effort to raise funds through various financing channels, and nearly 9 billion U.S. dollars are expected to be gathered to ensure the merger deals, Kim added.

South Korea is one of the largest crude oil consumers in the world, and it almost relies on foreign imports. It has put forward a overseas resources development plan aiming to achieve self sufficiency ownership of natural resources by Korean companies to a level of 30 percent by 2016.