First exploration drilling completed for oil and gas field off the coast of South Korea... Results of analysis may be expected as early as May-June

Exploration drilling has been completed for the deep-sea gas field "Blue Whale" off the coast of South Korea, and full-scale analysis work is about to begin to confirm whether the field actually contains oil and gas.
It has been pointed out that 14 new promising structures, including the "Mitsukuri Shark," may hold up to 5.2 billion barrels of additional oil and gas reserves, and attention is focused on the results of the analysis of the "Blue Whale" exploration drilling.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea National Oil Corporation on the 4th, the drilling ship West Capella, which began drilling at the exploration site on December 20th last year, recently finished drilling and left the site.
The West Capella has drilled more than one kilometer into the Blue Whale (promising) structure, about 40 kilometers off the coast of Pohang, penetrating the undersea topography and collecting rocks.
The promising structure stretches east-west across Block 8 and the northern part of Block 6-1 off the coast of South Korea, and is located 50 kilometers east of the nearest city, Pohang, in a straight line.
At the drilling site, Schlumberger, the world's number one drilling company, will record and analyze the composition of rocks, gases, and other materials extracted.
Mud logging work was also carried out at the same time. This ensured that sufficient samples were secured for precise analysis, and when the West Capella returned to Busan Port, Korea National Oil Corporation (KOIC)
The Korea National Oil Corporation said, "If the analysis of the rock samples begins this month, we may have the results as early as May or June."
The final results will be available in the third quarter of this year (July to September),” he said. President Yoon made a “surprise announcement” to the public himself, and it is considered to be President Yoon’s signature project.
The blue whale project is being pushed forward with President Yoon suspended from office due to impeachment charges by the National Assembly. Initially, the Korean government and Korea National Oil Corporation considered the chance of success to be 20%.
He expected that at least five exploration drillings would be necessary over the next few years. However, if the first drilling did not show clear potential amid the impeachment political situation, it would be difficult to secure the momentum to proceed with the project.
Many people believe that the budget for the first drilling project, 49.7 billion won (US$50 million), was cut in its entirety by the opposition parties in the National Assembly, and the drilling project is being carried out using the KNOC's own budget.
Some analysts have suggested that the results of the drilling will be a watershed moment in securing future project budgets.