The next Korean government will encourage domestic companies to acquire overseas gas fields

According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean government will encourage South Korea’s state-owned natural gas company, the Korea Gas Corporation, to purchase overseas proven natural gas fields to increase South Korea’s energy self-sufficiency rate.
According to reports, South Korea's president-elect Lee Myung-bak’s power handover team announced that South Korea’s energy policy will be transformed from the previous participation in and investment in a potential gas field into a direct purchase of an overseas company with proven reserves from Korea Gas Commune.
In the first half of 2007, Korea’s oil and natural gas self-sufficiency rate was 3.8%. The South Korean government plans to increase this ratio to 28% by 2016.
According to insiders, this "positive" acquisition is likely to happen, and the relevant parties are studying the specific gas fields to be acquired. Another policy expert said that the South Korean government will also promote the participation of Korean Gas Commune and other enterprises in the development of natural resources in Western Siberia.
Lee Myung-bak will formally take office as President of South Korea on February 25. He once stated that one of the core policies of the new government is to increase the country’s energy self-sufficiency rate in order to ensure the sustainable development of the economy, and his foreign policy will serve South Korea’s participation in overseas resource development.