Energy in Korea: Oil, Gas and Nuclear Technology

[hakz2007]

News, photos and discussions on Korean Energy be it in oil, gas, renewable, nuclear power and the like

[hakz2007]

Gov't to inject 763B won into energy research this year

SEOUL, April 1 (PNA/Yonhap) -- The government on Thursday said it will spend 763.9 billion won (US$ 677.6 million) to promote renewable energy research and related infrastructure development projects this year.

The spending plan by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy calls for state funds to be used in eight areas, including the development of cutting edge eco-friendly technologies and future power generation development.

The capital spending represents 17.3 percent of the ministry's total research and development (R&D) budget of 4.4 trillion won for 2010.

Under the plan, 244.9 billion won worth of government money will be allocated to energy-related technologies, while 240.1 billion won will be set aside for renewable energy R&D and 267.0 billion won on nuclear and fusion energy projects.

South Korea is actively engaged in making next generation reactors and is a participant in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.
In addition, 11.9 billion won will be used on research for storage of both nuclear waste and by-products.

The government will concentrate its support on three or four large development projects in order to ensure that new technologies reach the market in a timely manner. (PNA/Yonhap)

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=...d=4&rid=267578

[hakz2007]

Turkey signs nuclear deal with South Korea

During a Turkish-Korean joint business forum held in Turkey on March 10, a protocol was signed to cooperate on Turkey's second planned nuclear power plant. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, attending the signing ceremony, welcomed the development as a positive step toward bolstering Turkish trade and economic ties with Eastern Asia.

The Turkish government earlier canceled the tender for its first nuclear power plant, which had been awarded to a Russian-Turkish consortium. Despite the cancelation of the tender in late 2009, the government insisted that it would proceed with its plans to build several nuclear plants in the near future.



Notwithstanding the objections to the nuclear project from various domestic sources, the government developed a new strategy to overcome the legal obstacles and accelerate its plans. Instead of competitive tenders, it opted for an inter-governmental agreement with Moscow, which would enable the Russian-Turkish consortium to build the nuclear plant at Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast. Turkey and Russia are continuing their negotiations on the details of the agreement, and Ankara is speeding up the process in order to finalize the deal in time for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's planned visit to Turkey in May.

According to Turkish government's projections, Ankara plans by 2020 to build several nuclear plants to produce 10% of its total electricity needs. International leaders in the nuclear power generation industry, including US and French companies, have considered competing over tenders for the subsequent nuclear plants. However, Ankara has opted for an inter-governmental model for the second power plant.

Turkey concluded a protocol agreement with South Korea under which the Korean Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) might be awarded the contract to build a second plant in Turkey's Black Sea coastal city of Sinop.

KEPCO has been pursuing such a deal for some time, as part of its strategy of becoming a global leader in the nuclear industry. A KEPCO-led consortium recently won a contract to build four plants in the United Arab Emirates, thanks to KEPCO's cheaper and faster delivery terms compared with its rivals.

During the signing ceremony for the agreement with South Korea, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz stressed that both parties would form working groups to determine the details of such cooperation, particularly on the target price. He expects to reach a final decision on this within the next three to four months. If Ankara accepts the conditions, it will conclude an inter-governmental agreement, similar to the one with Moscow.

Turkish and Korean officials indicated that KEPCO might consider entering into partnership with Turkish firms to complete this project. KEPCO has already entered a joint venture with a Turkish company, NUROL AS, to invest in the Georgian energy market.

It was later argued that one of Turkey's leading construction firms, ENKA, will form a 50-50 joint venture to build the nuclear plant in Sinop. Yildiz noted that the government would not become involved in the choice of Turkish partner, and would respect the choice of the South Korean firm, provided that the partner had the necessary expertise.

Concerning the interest expressed by other international players in nuclear power plants, Yildiz said Turkey would be open to offers from other countries and companies and will evaluate them on the basis of competitiveness in terms of financing and construction terms. He noted that so far, there was no other offer.

Ankara's choice of partner has not been independent of political considerations, as Turkey sought to use these lucrative contracts as a means to achieve other political objectives. Thus far, participation by French companies has been hindered due to Ankara's policy of excluding them from major tenders. In the wake of recent signs of rapprochement between Ankara and Paris, French participation in Turkey's nuclear projects might become realistic.

In recent years, US firms were unable to compete for lucrative Turkish defense industry tenders, due to strict demands by the Turkish government concerning technology transfers. It was largely for these reasons, for instance, that Turkey awarded a contract for the construction of its main battle tanks to South Korea.

Similar concerns have arisen over the future of Turkish-American cooperation in nuclear energy. Erdogan cancelled his participation in a nuclear energy summit hosted by US President Barack Obama in Washington in April, to protest against a US House of Representatives committee finding in favor of Armenian genocide claims. If the parties fail to manage the looming uncertainty over Turkish-American relations posed by the genocide issue, Ankara might move to take some retaliatory action in the future, which could threaten the energy partnership. Indeed, Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan recently signaled that Ankara may freeze economic cooperation with Washington over the Armenian genocide claims.

An overarching theme in Ankara's energy policy has been diversification of both energy resources and supplier countries. The government's constant reiteration of its commitment to nuclear energy is a natural extension of this underlying motivation.
Seen from this perspective, the South Korean choice might be an attempt to counter the criticism that Ankara has deepened its energy dependence on Russia in recent years. While Turkey was already dependent on Russian gas and oil for much of its domestic consumption, by awarding the first nuclear power plant to Moscow, the government exacerbated this vulnerability.

The construction of the second plant by South Korea could be a step in the right direction toward diversifying the country's energy suppliers. It also complements its goal of breaking a traditional dependence on the West through cooperation with other emerging economies.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/LD01Ag01.html

[hakz2007]

S. Korea to set up nuclear components control database by August

SEOUL, April 9 (PNA/Yonhap) -- South Korea will set up a database aimed at preventing unauthorized export of components and materials used to make nuclear reactors, the government said Friday.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the system to be built by late August will initially list 53,000 parts and materials used to build commercial reactors, but that can be employed to make weapons of mass destruction.

A reactor is made up of over 2 million parts, with such parts as the reactor core, nuclear fuel charging and discharging machines barred from being shipped to some countries.

The database is the first to be created in the country and is timed with South Korea's successful export of four 1,400 megawatt reactors worth US.6 billion to the United Arab Emirates. The country had also signed a 0 million deal to build a 5 megawatt research reactors for Jordan.

"Components that will be cataloged have been compiled in cooperation with companies that build reactors such as Korea Electric Power Corp., Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Doosan Heavy Industry and Construction Co. and Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co.," an official said.

He said that the database is designed to offer easy to check reference so companies do not mistakenly ship sensitive materials abroad, and will be continuously built up until 2012 to include new materials that need to be controlled. The state-run Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control will be responsible for supporting the system.

"If the country exports more nuclear reactors, the list may have to be expanded and updated," the official said.

The ministry also said that with South Korea aiming to become one of the top three nuclear reactors exporters in the world by 2030, there is a need to make certain that local companies do not ship out sensitive materials.

It said noncompliance to set rules could effectively hurt the country's efforts to export reactors down the road.

The U.N. Security Council resolution 1540 make it mandatory for countries to follow guidelines on shipping sensitive materials, and the International Atomic Energy Agency enforces oversight over the movement of strategic materials that can be converted to make weapons.

Violators could be banned from conducting international trade for up to three years and hindered from acquiring new technologies and business investments. (PNA/Yonhap)

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=...d=4&rid=268812

[jlee]

http://atimes.com/atimes/Korea/LD10Dg03.html

South Korea resists atomic pressure
By Donald Kirk

WASHINGTON - South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak has a special agenda when he attends the nuclear security summit in Washington next Monday and Tuesday. He'll endorse anything United States President Barack Obama proposes while assuring the skeptics that South Korea's nuclear program is all for energy, not for a hidden military purpose.

With that goal in mind, South Korea was quick to endorse Obama's nuclear policy statement that specifically excludes Iran and North Korea from non-nuclear nations the US would never attack with nukes. Those two miscreants, the White House explained, are "not in compliance" with the NPT, referring to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. A



review of the treaty takes place at the UN in New York next month.

The exclusion of Iran and North Korea will undoubtedly anger North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il, who's likely to see the US laying the groundwork for a "preemptive strike". For Lee and his aides, however, the top priority is to convince world leaders not only of South Korea's prowess but also its good faith as a nuclear power, that is a producer of nuclear energy, not nuclear weapons.

"Lee will also publicize South Korea's advanced operation of nuclear power plants in seeking the peaceful use of atomic power," according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. Lee's audience will include Obama and leaders from 46 other countries plus the United Nations, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Union.

Whatever Lee may say, South Korea's success as a major producer of nuclear energy raises the critical question: Might South Korean scientists and engineers want to compete with North Korea in fabricating the material needed for nuclear devices?
The specter of a nuclear arms race on the Korean Peninsula touches raw nerves, nowhere more so than in Washington, as South Korea's policymakers campaign to get rid of the deal worked out between South Korea and the United States nearly 40 years ago that keeps the South from reprocessing spent fuel rods.

South Korea wants to reprocess rather than store spent fuel rods uninhibited by the ban imposed by its nuclear cooperation agreement with the US. But will South Korea then be able to extract fissile material for warheads? That's the question as US and South Korean negotiators engage in secret talks amid efforts at getting North Korea to do away with its own nuclear program.

US and Korean officials agree on one thing: the nuclear cooperation agreement is too "sensitive" to discuss openly. The talks are "technical" and "complicated", said the US ambassador, Kathleen Stephens, promising to "continue our cooperation to guarantee the safety and proliferation-resistance of nuclear energy".

Americans ask, however, how much faith to place in denials of nuclear ambitions while North Korea refuses to get rid of its nuclear weapons program. It was to frustrate the dream of South Korea's then president Park Chung-hee for the South to become a nuclear power, that the US in 1972 insisted on a US-Korean nuclear cooperation agreement banning reprocessing.

That agreement expires in 2014, but it's far from clear if the US and South Korea can resolve their differences by then. What if pressure mounts in South Korea for a deterrent while North Korea produces ever more fissile material, already estimated at enough for six to a dozen warheads, and conducts more underground tests as it did last May and in 2006?

Koreans disavow any ambition other than a desire to extract more uranium for fuel for nuclear energy reactors and then bury the residue.

"We do not want to use the word 'reprocessing'," said Choi Jung-bae, director of the nuclear policy division at the Ministry of Science and Technology. "We prefer to say, 'recycling' or 'reused'." The purpose of recycling, he said, is to get only useful elements in spent fuel, including uranium, in a process called "pyro-processing".

At the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute in Daejeon, a center of scientific research south of Seoul, scientists call pyro-processing "a long-term solution" for recycling spent fuel rods.

"The point is pyro-processing cannot recover plutonium," said Lee Hansoo, director of nuclear fuel cycle process development at the institute. "It cannot compare with normal reprocessing." The problem, however, is that pyro-processing, first developed in the US, remains in research and development. "We need more than 10 or 20 years," Lee estimated.

The issue assumes greater importance as South Korea competes as one of the world's major producers of nuclear energy reactors. KEPCO, the state-invested Korea Electric Power Corporation, has signed a deal to export four 1,400-megawatt energy reactors to the United Arab Emirates for a total of US$20 billion - the first of what the government hopes will be many more such agreements.

Korea, moreover, is becoming reliant on nuclear energy - 20 light-water reactors now produce 40% of the country's energy needs with 10 more due to go on line in a decade. KEPCO has overall responsibility while a single company, Doosan Heavy Industries, and is building the reactors in the industrial city of Changwon, near the major southeastern port of Pusan.

It is as though the two Koreas were already in a nuclear competition - South Korea feverishly going nuclear in terms of energy while North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il escalates the nuclear arms race.

Doosan was building two nuclear energy reactors for North Korea under the terms of the 1994 Geneva Framework Agreement until the agreement broke down after North Korea was revealed in 2002 to have an entirely separate, super-secret program for producing the highly enriched uranium for warheads. By now, however, Doosan is deep into plans for building many more reactors for both domestic use and export.

"The vision for the Korean government," as outlined at Korea's four nuclear complexes, is to produce 100 or so reactors in 20 years, including 80 for export in competition with the US, Japan, France and China. Korea by 2030 expects to derive 60% of its energy from nuclear power.

Patriotism and nationalism are motivators. President Lee, who rose to chairman of Hyundai Engineering and Construction during its drive for contracts in the Middle East in the 1970s and 1980s, places the export of nuclear reactors among his priorities. He pressed for the deal with the Emirates - and lobbied Indian leaders to consider Korean reactors during a visit to New Delhi.

The nuclear energy complex at Uljin, about 150 kilometers southeast of Seoul, offers a window, literally, on the problem of what to do with spent nuclear fuel rods. Through thick glass visitors can stare down at huge tanks of water at the bottom of which lurk cylindrical canisters containing spent nuclear fuel rods. That's where they're stored there after having powered one of the four reactors at the Uljin complex.

"Currently we have space for spent fuel rods until 2016," said Park Chan-sung, an official at the Uljin site, the newest of four nuclear complexes with 20 reactors operating under the aegis of the state-owned Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co.

Atop a hill overlooking the complex at Kori, down the east coast from Uljin, where Korea's first reactor began producing power in 1978, Lee Soo-il, a director, points to silos housing six nuclear reactors - and to two more silos awaiting installation of reactors. "Everything is stored here at this site," he said. "We are trying to figure out ways to deal with reprocessed spent fuel."

With all the emphasis on building reactors, the question of what to do with spent fuel rods assumes ever more urgency. "The challenge is to put the focus on nuclear responsibility, not nuclear sovereignty," said L Gordon Flake, director of the Mansfield Foundation in Washington. "If it becomes cast as a question of national pride and sovereignty, it could be very damaging."

Koreans have trouble, however, convincing skeptics. At the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute, physicists were discovered to have enriched tiny amounts of uranium in 2000 without even notifying their own government. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a report issued in 2004 berated South Korea for not having reported the experiments but concluded they had stopped.

Analysts fear the IAEA investigation gives Kim Jong-il another reason for going ahead with his own program while calling for a "denuclearized" Korean Peninsula. South Korea's desire for "energy independence" parallels North Korea's stubborn insistence on the right to be able to build nuclear explosives in case war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula.

The sad irony is that energy deprived North Korea, proud of its place as one of nine nations with nuclear warheads, has not attempted to build a single reactor for the purpose of producing electrical power.

Instead, North Korea is sure to go on demanding the twin light-water energy reactors promised under the Geneva framework if it ever returns to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program. The need for those talks assumes special urgency while South Korea emerges as a nuclear powerhouse - with the know-how to fabricate warheads if tensions rage out of control in the dreaded "second Korean war".

Donald Kirk is the author, most recently, of Korea Betrayed: Kim Dae Jung and Sunshine.

[hakz2007]

Hyosung to build substations in Qatar

SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- Hyosung Corp., a South Korean heavy electric machinery maker, said Wednesday it has signed a formal agreement to build five substations in Qatar for 130 billion won (US$116 million).

The deal, inked between Hyosung and Qatari power authorities in Doha on Tuesday, called for the South Korean firm to construct three 132 kilovolt and two 66 kilovolt substations in Qatar
Under the deal, Hyosung will be responsible for the entire process of the project ranging from engineering, procurement to construction.

The deal, which Hyosung clinched last December, is part of the Persian Gulf nation's phase IX project, aimed at developing and upgrading electricity transmission and distribution networks.

Completion of the construction is scheduled for 2012, the company said.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/busi...09700315F.HTML

[hakz2007]

Energy companies to sharply increase nuclear-related workforce this year

SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's public energy companies and laboratories will increase the number of nuclear energy related engineers and technicians by 2,246 this year as part of the country's buildup strategy to become one of the world's top three atomic reactor exporters by 2030, the government said Thursday.

The finance and knowledge economy ministries said eight nuclear energy-related companies and laboratories such as Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute will hire 1,609 new workers and re-position 637 existing employees to support atomic energy operations.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/busi...004700320.HTML

[hakz2007]

Retail prices of gasoline top 1,800 won per liter in Seoul

SEOUL, April 16 (Yonhap) -- Retail prices for gasoline in Seoul have topped 1,800 won per liter for the first time in 19 months on rising global oil prices, a South Korean state-run oil corporation said Friday.

Regular gasoline retail prices in Seoul averaged 1,801.04 won (US$1.61) per liter as of Thursday, with gas most expensive in Gangnam Ward at 1,887.10 won per liter, according to data posted on-line by Korea National Oil Corp.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/busi...003500315.HTML

[hakz2007]

S. Korea calls for greater transparency in nuclear control agencies

SEOUL, April 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will call for greater transparency and information-sharing by the world's leading nuclear energy regulators to better respond to growing demands for objective data on safety, the government said Sunday.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said it will push for openness in information at the 26th International Nuclear Regulations' Association (INRA) meeting in London this week.

The association, established in 1997, is an informal association of the most senior officials of the nuclear regulatory authorities from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and South Korea. The goal of the group that meets twice a year is to enhance nuclear safety through regulatory processes and sharing best practices.

"Such a move aims to provide the public with all pertinent information on complications experienced in the building of nuclear reactors by INRA members, such as delays in construction, substandard quality control and shortcoming involving operations," said a ministry official.

He stressed that Seoul will urge INRA members to engage in talks so such an open system that can meet future needs can be adopted as the global standard.

"The proposal signifies a shift from a defensive policy where Seoul refuted claims made by others to an aggressive stance of calling on all parties to publicize their track record in terms of problems encountered in the building and running of reactors," the official said.

The plan comes as Seoul aims to become an active player in the global commercial nuclear reactor market after the sale of four of its APR-1400 reactors to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Policymakers here said that rivals had engaged in an unfounded smear campaign against the South Korean-designed reactor, while they declined to release information on well publicized problems of their own.

A South Korean consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corp. side-stepped challenges by France's Areva SA for the US$18.6 billion UAE contract.

The ministry, which represents South Korea at the gathering, also said that it will highlight its plan to undergo an Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2011 right after the U.S.

Of all the INRA members, only the U.S. and South Korea have not received the regulatory service review designed to enhance the effectiveness of the national regulatory infrastructure for nuclear, radiation, radioactive waste and transport safety and security of radioactive sources.

Getting the IRRS can further dispel any misgivings on the capabilities of South Korea in the nuclear field.

The ministry said because the gathering is composed of individual officials and experts, South Korea will be represented by its nuclear energy bureau chief, Hong Nam-pyo. The ministry official can take part because his office oversees the country's Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety.

For the U.S., Gregory Jaczko, head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will take part in talks, and Andre Claude Lacoste will represent France's Nuclear Safety Authority.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/busi...11600320F.HTML

[hakz2007]

KEPCO narrows net loss in Q1 on strong won

SEOUL, April 26 (PNA/YONHAP) -- Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), the South Korean state power company, said Monday it posted a narrower net loss in the first quarter from a year ago as a stronger Korean currency reduced fuel costs.

KEPCO's net loss came to 82.1 billion won (US$ 74.3 million) in the January-March period, compared with a net loss of 882.2 billion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales rose 14.6 percent on-year to 957.7 billion won in the period. The company said that it narrowed its operating loss to 107.9 billion won in the first quarter from 176.3 billion won a year ago.

"The decrease in net loss was a result of reduced fuel costs and debts denominated in foreign currencies, along with increased profits from equity investments by our units," KEPCO said.

KEPCO posted 108.3 billion won in foreign exchange gains and 1.08 trillion won in profits from equity investments in the period, the company said in a statement.

Shares of KEPCO rose 0.29 percent to 34,650 won as of 09:53 a.m. on the Seoul bourse. (PNA/Yonhap)

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=...d=3&rid=271950

[hakz2007]

Korea Electric, Posco to Cooperate in Nuclear Reactor Metals

May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Korea Electric Power Corp., South Korea’s biggest electricity producer, and Posco agreed to cooperate in developing metal products used in nuclear power plants.

Both companies signed a preliminary agreement to develop raw materials, used in reactors and steam generators of nuclear power plants, the Seoul-based utility said in an e-mailed statement today.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?s...w&pid=20601087

[hakz2007]

S. Korea to provide key part for int'l fusion reactor

SEOUL, May 17 (PNA/Yonhap) -- South Korea has signed a contract to supply a key component for the construction of an international experimental fusion reactor being built in France, officials here said Monday.

The arrangement to provide the thermal shield is part of Seoul's contribution to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, according to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. South Korea is fully responsible for building and delivering the component. The shield will be built under the supervision of the National Fusion Research Institute, and is designed to help maintain the super-cold integrity of the superconducting magnet, vital for the operation of a stable fusion reaction. The magnet, which surrounds a huge vacuum chamber, must be kept at 80 Kelvin, or minus 193C.

The shield's surface area covers 10,000 square meters and, once assembled, it will stand 25 meters at its highest point.

The ministry said the shield will be built and delivered by late 2016 or early 2017.

It is the fifth component to be supplied to the ITER by South Korea, which has already signed procurement deals for the main vacuum vessel, vacuum port, the superconducting magnet and an assembly tool needed to place heavy components weighing a total of 1,200 tons inside the reactor.

The ITER, being built at the Cadarache center in southern France, is a reactor testbed that uses tritium and deuterium to release helium and neutron particles -- which theoretically could create an artificial sun on Earth, and a limitless supply of energy.

South Korea is a member of the ITER consortium, made up of the European Union, the United States, Japan, Russia, China and India.

Scheduled for completion by around 2018, experiments on the ITER are to be conducted for about 20 years to check the feasibility of the technology. Once this process is underway, a demonstration plant that can actually generate power is to be set up sometime mid-century.

Seoul, meanwhile, has built a scaled-down ITER called the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research Reactor to conduct its own tests of fusion power generation.

KSTAR, built in September 2007, generated a plasma field in its vacuum chamber in July 2008. The plasma field is needed to allow a fusion reaction to take place.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=...d=4&rid=276121

[hakz2007]

S. Korea's energy consumption climbs 11% in Q1

SEOUL, May 18 (PNA/Yonhap) -- South Korea's energy consumption recorded double-digit growth in the first quarter from a year earlier due to increased energy spending stemming from an economic recovery and a continued cold snap, a government report said Tuesday.

According to the report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the country's energy use rose 11 percent year-on-year to 68.9 million tons of oil equivalent (TOE) in the January-March period.

Energy consumption for industrial use grew 9.7 percent on-year to 52.6 million TOE in the first quarter, accounting for 58.3 percent of the country's total energy spending, it said.

By final energy consumption, the country's electrical power consumption soared 12.4 percent, while oil spending gained only 0.9 percent. Final energy consumption means the energy received by consumers and businesses, excluding the energy loss in the conversion sector and from distribution.

"The country's energy consumption is expected to grow in the second half as the economy is on the course to recovery," a ministry official said.

Meanwhile, the country's energy imports jumped 30.6 percent to US$ 29.7 billion in the first quarter from a year ago mainly due to a rise in global oil prices, the report said. By volume, imports of energy rose 4.4 percent to 71.29 TOE.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=...d=4&rid=276356

[hakz2007]

South Korea Crude Oil Imports Rise on Refinery Demand (Update1)

June 1 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest buyer of oil, increased crude imports by 21.5 percent in May as refiners expanded fuel production to meet overseas orders.

Imports rose to 75.3 million barrels last month from 62.0 million a year earlier, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in an e-mailed statement today.

SK Energy Co., South Korea’s biggest refiner, processed about 800,000 barrels a day in May, up from 770,000 a year earlier. The country’s oil-product exports gained 15.4 percent to 27.5 million barrels, according to the ministry.

South Korea’s crude oil import bill jumped 84.2 percent to $6.4 billion last month from a year earlier as Asian benchmark Dubai prices rose 32.7 percent to $76.80 a barrel, the government said.

Petrochemical exports increased 34.1 percent by value from a year earlier, helped by strong demand from China, South Korea’s largest market, and higher prices, the ministry said. The average export price rose 29.7 percent to $1,341 a metric ton.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?s...M&pid=20601087

[hakz2007]

South Korea investing US$88b to improve energy efficiency

YONGIN, South Korea : Going green for South Korea is more than a social responsibility - it is a key driver of its economy.

As one of Asia's biggest energy consumers, South Korea is investing 107 trillion won or US$88 billion over the next five years to improve its energy efficiency.

The move has attracted many South Korean companies onto the energy-efficiency bandwagon.

A female staff, introducing a water recycling system, said: "This water can be treated and recycled by the system for flushing the toilet or cleaning purposes."

The system is just part of the 68 energy saving technologies featured under one roof.

The model home uses only half of the energy consumed by an average apartment. And using only renewable energy generated by these facilities, the house is believed to emit zero greenhouse gas.

"Green Tomorrow" in Yongin is Samsung Corporation's latest venture into eco-friendly buildings. The group already has some impressive projects like Taipei 101 under its belt.

Kim Wangyeol, director of Green Tomorrow project, Samsung C&T Corporation, said: "Since Samsung C&T has many apartment buildings, we're applying (the technology) to them first.

"And currently, one third of the 68 technologies have been adopted. We're planning to perfect the rest of the technologies and apply them by approximately 2013."

Many parts of the model home are built using recycled wood. And it relies on the solar panel roof and wind turbine for much of its energy needs.

"I was very impressed with the fact that things I know in theory can all be applied in real life," said a woman.

"I'm not married yet, but when I do, this is a place I'd like to buy for my wife and my children," another said.

It currently costs about US$1 million to build a green home.

"Currently, Green Tomorrow buildings cost 30 to 40 per cent higher than other buildings. We aim to lower this to 10 per cent by 2015 and pay the cost back over a 10 year period," Kim said.

Samsung is just one of many businesses that are following the green policy put forward by President Lee Myung Bak.

Since 2009, South Korea has been investing 2 per cent of its GDP a year to improve energy efficiency.

And the benefits go beyond just saving the environment. Other than giving the country a head-start in the environment conservation sector, it also helps it own citizens.

Kim Hyung Kook, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, said: "President Lee Myung Bak's term ends in February of 2013. During that term, we hope to create 1.8 million new jobs."

South Korea is one of Asia's biggest energy consumers, but it is aiming to cut its carbon emissions by 30 per cent in 2020.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...063984/1/.html

[hakz2007]

S. Korea's renewable energy sector exports surge in H1

SEOUL, July 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's renewable energy sector exports more than doubled in the first half thanks to greater overseas demand for eco-friendly power generation, a government report showed Monday.

The report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said exports of solar and wind power generation components and products surged to US$2.14 billion in the January-June period from around $1 billion a year earlier.

"The amount already exceeds the $2.04 billion shipped out by local companies for the whole of last year," said Hwang Soo-sung, head of the ministry's renewable energy division.

He said of the total, $1.8 billion were products in the solar power generation areas, which represents a gain of 105 percent from the previous year, with wind power-related shipments increasing 37 percent.

South Korea has the potential to expand its market share in both the solar and wind power generation fields because it has the necessary infrastructure to mass produce silicon-based materials, and it is competitive in the heavy industry sector.

The official added that moves by the United States, Japan, China and many European countries to augment fossil fuel with cleaner alternatives helped local exports.

In addition, moves by South Korean manufacturers such as LG Electronics, STX Solar Co., Samsung Heavy Industries and OCI Co. to increase production capabilities allowed the country to meet the rise in worldwide demand.

These companies have also improved the so-called production value chain to make better solar energy products and have invested more in research and development in wind power generation areas.

The ministry, meanwhile, said that 80 local companies engaged in solar and wind power generation businesses secured a combined $8.25 billion worth of orders in the January-June period, which is a 6.8-fold increase from the year before.

It said up to $2.5 billion worth of new orders may be won before the end of this year.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/busi...03400320F.HTML

[hakz2007]

Korea National Oil goes hostile with £1.68bn move for Dana

STATE-RUN Korea National Oil made a hostile cash bid worth £1.68bn for Dana Petroleum yesterday, highlighting a strengthening in South Korea's resolve to secure energy assets overseas.

Seoul gave KNOC a $6.5bn warchest this year to compete with energy-hungry Asian state firms aiming to secure future supplies for their growing economies. Chinese and other firms have so far outgunned KNOC in bigger M&A battles.

The biggest hostile bid by a South Korean firm comes after Dana's management earlier this month rejected KNOC's 1,800 pence per share proposal.

The Aberdeen-based explorer urged investors to take no action.

Investors said that, with two months having passed since KNOC's approach, Dana needed to quickly produce another bidder or other material reasons why the bid undervalued the company.

"They've got to pull a rabbit out of the hat," one hedge fund manager said.

However investors were pessimistic about another bidder emerging at this late point.

KNOC said it had already secured non-binding letters of intent from investors representing 48.6 per cent of Dana shares.

The 1,800 pence/share offer represents a premium of 59 per cent to the closing price of Dana shares on June 30, the day before news of the KNOC approach emerged.

Meanwhile, shares in gas producer BG Group gained as much as 6.7 per cent yesterday following a report of a possible £54bn bid for the company, of which analysts were generally dismissive.

The Daily Mail reported rumours that oil major Royal Dutch Shell was considering a 1,600 pence per share cash bid for BG. Both companies declined to comment on the rumour.

"This comes up once a year every year for the last ten," said one analyst who did not wish to be named.

Panmure Gordon analyst Peter Hitchens said he thought the rumour was probably "idle Friday chat".

"The market is looking for M&A themes and targets. There's an M&A theme running through the market right now and it's BG's turn today," said another analyst who didn't want to be named.

Shares in BG closed at 1,091.50 pence, up six per cent.

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/busin...ile.6486909.jp

[hakz2007]

Korea's pension fund eyes buying into U.S. pipeline operator

SEOUL, Aug. 23 (PNA/Yonhap) -- South Korea's national pension fund said Monday that it is seeking to take over a 23.4 percent stake in Colonial Pipeline, a U.S. oil pipeline operator, from Chevron Corp.

"We are in talks to acquire the stake, but nothing has been decided yet," an official at the National Pension Service (NPS) said by phone.

The NPS also said in a statement that it has yet to be picked as a preferred bidder for the stake.

According to a local media report, the fund has been the main bidder for the stake and will bring the bidding process to an end at the end of the year. The bidding price is estimated at 1 trillion won (US$ 800 million), it said.

Colonial Pipeline operates an 8,900-kilometer oil pipeline linking Texas and New York.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=...d=3&rid=296168

[hakz2007]

KNOC to Sell $1 Billion Debt as Asia Buys Resources

Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Korea National Oil Corp. , engaged in a $2.6 billion hostile takeover of Dana Petroleum Plc, plans to sell debt to fund acquisitions as Asia’s biggest economies compete to secure energy resources.

State-owned energy explorer known as KNOC plans to raise between $500 million and $1 billion selling bonds, said a company spokesman based in Gyeonggi, South Korea, who declined to be identified because the timing and size of the sale haven’t been decided. The plan was first reported by the Yonhap News Agency yesterday.

The price of the company’s dollar-denominated bonds maturing July 2014 fell to the lowest since July 28 as investors expect the government to allow the sale of new debt. South Korea’s government said in January it will “closely monitor” state-run firms’ plans for overseas bond sales to prevent a rise in overseas borrowing and volatility in the currency market.

“South Korea has curbed aggressive foreign-currency bond sales to prevent a rapid appreciation of the won, but the government will allow the sale by KNOC to fund acquisitions,” Peter Park, a fixed-income analyst at Woori Investment & Securities Co., said by telephone in Seoul. “KNOC’s bonds will attract global investors as the country’s economy is recovering fast and is more stable than that of European nations.”

Bond Price

KNOC’s $1 billion, 5.375 percent bonds maturing July 2014 fell to 107.749 cents, the lowest since July 28, according to BNP Paribas prices. The yield rose to 3.229 percent from 3.151 percent on Sept. 10. The dollar has declined 0.5 percent against the won this year.

South Korea, the world’s biggest importer of liquefied natural gas, joins China, Japan and India in seeking to buy stakes in the resources needed to boost their economies. State and private companies in the four nations have bid for more than $56 billion worth of energy assets worldwide this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

China Petrochemical Corp. in April paid $4.65 billion, about 20 percent more than analysts expected, for a 9 percent stake in oil-sands producer Syncrude Canada Ltd. Together with Cnooc Ltd., the Chinese oil company may offer at least $7 billion for Brazil oil assets and a stake in OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes SA, two people with knowledge of the matter said on Sept. 10.

Sumitomo Corp., Japan’s third-largest trading house, aims to increase investments in energy assets by 50 percent to 150 billion yen ($1.8 billion) in five years, Tadashi Kobayashi, energy division general manager, said earlier this month.

Final Offer

KNOC said in a statement last week that its offer of 1,800 pence ($27.64) per Dana share is final, and will only be increased if a competitor emerges.

Dana, based in Aberdeen, Scotland, last month rejected the offer, saying the company is worth at least 18 percent more. Chief Executive Officer Tom Cross declined to say whether a so- called white knight has materialized. Dana shareholders have until Sept 23 to accept the bid.

KNOC last month raised $2.8 billion in term loans from Societe Generale SA, Export-Import Bank of Korea, Korea Finance Corp., Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, and Kookmin Bank for the bid, according to a filing.

Rating Affirmed

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed KNOC’s credit ratings after the bid, citing support from the government. Moody’s ranks the company’s debt at A1, the fifth-highest investment grade. Standard & Poor’s has an A rating, one step lower.

The South Korean company is seeking to increase output to about 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day by 2012 from 135,000 barrels now. The explorer has said it plans about $6 billion worth of acquisitions and projects this year.

South Korean utilities snapping up stakes in overseas resources development projects and companies include Korea Electric Power Corp., the nation’s largest utility, which completed the 4.67 trillion rupiah ($521 million) purchase of a 20 percent stake in PT Bayan Resources on Aug. 19.

The Seoul-based utility is considering a sale of at least $500 million of bonds to fund that takeover, according to two people familiar with the matter. Korea Electric in July also agreed to buy a coal mine in Australia from Anglo American Plc for A$403 million ($373 million).

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...resources.html

[hakz2007]

GDF Suez to ship LNG to South Korea

PARIS, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- A deal with South Korea's public gas utility exemplifies a commitment to the liquefied natural gas market in Asia, French energy company GDF Suez said.

GDF Suez announced Monday it reached a medium-term agreement with South Korean public utility company Kogas for deliveries of liquefied natural gas.

"This transaction illustrates GDF Suez' objective to contribute to the development of the LNG market in particular in Asia where growth and supply prospects are the greatest," the French company said in a statement announcing the deal.

GDF Suez under the terms of the deal will supply Kogas with 2.5 million tons of gas during the contractual period, which lasts through 2013.

South Korea received more than 2.6 million tons of LNG from Russian developments on Sakhalin Island during the past year, Russian energy monopoly Gazprom said in early September.

French LNG deliveries come from 41 shipments from GDF Suez that begin later this year. The French energy company said Kogas is the largest importer of LNG in the world.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Reso...8801285584785/

South Korea Requires 374 Companies to Set Greenhouse Gas-Reduction Targets

South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest polluter, said more than 300 companies including Samsung Electronics Co. and Posco must set energy-saving and greenhouse gas-reduction targets by September to help fight global warming.

They will face fines of as much as 10 million won ($8,708) if the goals aren’t met, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in an e-mailed statement today. Only companies producing at least 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year are required to set targets, the ministry said.

South Korea said in November it will cut emissions by 30 percent by 2020 under a “business as usual” scenario. The target corresponds to a 4 percent reduction from 2005 levels, according to Green Korea United, a non-profit group. The ministry said 374 companies have been identified and are required to set reduction targets.

The companies produced a total of 361 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2007, accounting for 58 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the ministry. They must implement the targets starting 2012, the ministry said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-0...n-targets.html