The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Energy has announced that three gas hydrate deposits estimated to yield 600 million tons have been discovered in the East Sea 100km South of Ulleung-do. For more info on gas hydrates, click here. The government plans to commercialize the deposits around 2015 and it estimates that the deposits can meet Korea’s natural gas needs for 30 years.
If the yield estimates are true, then the find will go a long way to lessen Korea’s dependence on imported gas. This also means that it is highly likely that Korea will become a gas exporter. Now this begs the question. Will the government, like Brunei, the oil producing Arab states, etc. spend some of the proceeds from the gas production on the welfare of ordinary Koreans, or will it just pocket the entire proceeds for its own use? I hope it’s the former, but knowing how the government here operates……well, you know.
Also from looking at Wikipedia, one can determine that Ulleung-do is 92kms away from Dokdo. So I guess this is the reason why Korea wants Dokdo to remain Korean, and probably explains why it once sent several Coast Guard ships in an attempt to stop two Japanese survey ships.
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Ostensibly, what the government does is for the welfare of Koreans — there should be no difference between the government spending some of the proceeds from gas production on the welfare of Koreans or pocketing the entire proceeds for its own use.
There is a danger, though, given the propensity of Korean officials to steal and the proven allure of petro-money, that significant sums will be siphoned off through various schemes designed to enrich the elite rather than the general citizenry. And a government inclined toward make-work and the expansion of the civil service ranks would probably allocate a large portion of the money toward hiring more staff.
I’ve read about a couple of these “finds” over the years - plus, a few supposedly treasure laden sunken ships - and none have proven to be legit. Hope this one turns out to be different.
whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute. I heard somewhere that Korea has no natural resources. What is this talk of exporting gas? Is this North Korea ?
Mateomiguel, it turns out Korea does have a rich source of natural gas under the sea. North Korea has large reserves of gold also. South Korea would love to tap into that. As long as the Chinese don’t clean them out first.
Wikipedia entry at “Methane clathrate” seems to be more relevant than the one provided above. This deposit is very different from the conventional natural gas reservoir, which you basically plug a straw into and cash in.
The technology to separate the “hydrate” from the “gas” economically has yet to be developed. Japan is working to have it work by 2016.
Besides, this “methane ice”, as it is also called, is much more abundant than conventional natural gas (2~10 times?). So by the time Korea gets around to start processing, after of course they receive the technology from Japan, everyone else would be doing it.
For a moment there it seemed that the idea of Korea being devoid of natural resources and the only resource it has to rely on is human, and which has been doggedly driven into my brain from years in the Korean education system, was in jeopardy. You scared me.
Starcraft Gosu, repeat after me and tap your heels together three times. “Park Chun Hee is dead. park Chun Hee is dead. Park Chun Hee is dead.”
Good choice of words in the title of the thread. The revealed the find now, but they have known about this for years.
I used to work for a geological laboratory in Canada. Let’s just say that I can tell you most of the older mines don’t go out of their way to correct the rumors that they only have a very limited amount of ore left. In fact, they themselves spread the rumors (the largest one in my home town has had 20 years of ore left for the last 40. They always make a big show out of having ‘found’ new ore, though.). Many mining and oil companies keep these things secret, in part for two very simple reasons: it keeps the prices high as it creates the false impression that the resources is growing scarce (and drives the price high enough so that it is profitable to exploit new sources) and the unions make fewer demands at the bargaining table when they don’t know about the treasure the company is sitting on and if they worry about a shutout.
And, of course, one notable blogger should soon produce several maps of great antiquity which arguably demonstrate Japan’s preeminent claim to these resources.
Sure won’t be me. Dokdo forever baby! They might have known about this for a awhile, but oil and gas prices might not have been high enough to fund exploration or R&D to separate the hydrate from the gas.
Are the sites also located within Japan’s exclusive economic zone (200 miles from the shore)?