S. Korean oil companies win rights to develop four Colombian oil blocks

SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- Two South Korean oil companies announced Saturday they
secured rights to develop four prospective oil blocks in Colombia.

State-run Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) and SK Energy Co. said they signed a
deal with Colombian authorities to explore and develop oil blocks CPO-2, CPO-3
and CPO-4 in the inland Crudos Pesados basin, as well as the SSJN-5 block near
the Caribbean for crude oil.
Oil blocks are areas that hold the potential to be developed into future oil and
gas fields.
KNOC said it earned a 30 percent stake in CPO-2 and CPO-3, which when combined
covers 1,346 square kilometers of land.
Exploration will be conducted for six years and if oil is found the company and
Argentina's Pluspetrol will be able to develop the field for 24 years. The latter
holds a controlling stake of 70 percent.
"The two prospective blocks could turn up oil because exploration in neighboring
regions have found deposits," said a KNOC spokesperson.
SK, meanwhile, acquired a 100 percent stake in the CPO-4 block and 50 percent
rights to the SSJN-5 block with Petropuli Corp. of Colombia owning the other
half.
The South American country is estimated to have oil reserves reaching 1.5 billion
barrels and currently produces 560,000 barrels per day. This makes the country
the fourth largest in South America in terms of output.
The two South Korean companies already secured exploration and development rights
to two other Colombian blocks in September.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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