SEOUL, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- South Korea's statue-run Korea National Oil Corp. said Monday it discovered an economically viable natural gas deposit in the Sea of Japan.
It is estimated that the Donghae 6-1 sector deposit holds 10 billion cubic feet of gas, or 220,000 tons of high-quality liquefied natural gas.
The gas layer, which lies 48 miles southeast of Uslan, was found after drilling about 1 mile into the seabed, the Yonhap news service reported. The deposit is the third found in the South Korean continental self since 1998.
The find is smaller than the 230 billion cubic feet of gas in the Donghae 1 field, which has been producing gas since July 2004, but is close enough to it for them to be developed together.
Donghae 1 produces 50 million cubic feet of gas and 1,200 barrels of crude oil a day. It has produced 25 billion cubic feet of gas and 590,000 barrels of crude oil, according to Yonhap.
KNOC said a pipeline could be built to connect the two fields and detailed analysis will begin in March and end in September.
The field could reduce gas imports by around $100 million annually.
