Gov’t Refutes Woodside’s Assessment that Exploring Gas Fields in East Sea Has No Prospects

The government has refuted an assessment made by Australia’s Woodside Energy Group that exploring gas fields in the East Sea has no prospects. 

The energy ministry and the Korea National Oil Corporation(KNOC) issued a press release Thursday saying the assessment does not comply with facts when considering related circumstances. 

While confirming that Woodside withdrew in January from a joint project with the KNOC on exploring gas fields in the East Sea, the ministry said the move came in the process of readjusting existing projects after Woodside merged with BHP, an Australian mining and metals public company, in June 2022. 

Woodside said in its 2023 half-year report that it withdrew from mining areas that no longer have prospects in the process of maximizing its exploration portfolio.

The report said the effort included a decision to exit from a block in deepwater Trinidad and Tobago and completing formal exit activities in South Korea, Canada and Myanmar. 

Between 2007 and 2016, Woodside and KNOC had jointly explored two areas in the East Sea, which the government had cited earlier this week as potentially holding enormous deposits of oil and gas.