Ruling party National Assembly Representative Kwon Seong-dong said on the 7th regarding the first exploratory drilling of the Donghae deep-sea gas field development project named 'Blue Whale,' that the government announced it had no economic feasibility, "The official position of the party and the government is that we must continue drilling in the remaining blocks in terms of resource development."
Representative Kwon noted after a National Assembly countermeasure meeting that day, that there is no need to be disappointed just because the result indicates that it is not an economically viable block.
Kim Sang-hoon, the ruling party's policy committee chairman, also mentioned earlier in the countermeasure meeting, "The drilling development of the Blue Whale deep-sea gas field has been planned since the Moon Jae-in administration. Initially, it was estimated that the possibility of deposits was below 20%, but this drilling result shows that it is not economically viable," he said, adding, "As a resource-poor nation, we have no choice but to take on the resource development risks."
He continued, "There are a total of seven deep-sea oil field blocks in the East Sea, and Blue Whale is one of them. For the Blue Whale oil field, an in-depth analysis will be conducted, with an interim report in May and final analysis results in July and August. The government plans to actively explore the remaining six blocks after this. I hope that political attacks describing this drilling exploration result as a fraud, or any such accusations, will be restrained and that the government will not lose courage and carry out the drilling exploration development plans for the six East Sea deep-sea oil fields to bring hope to the people."
Park Soo-min, the National Assembly spokesperson, also emphasized after the meeting, "The fundamental principle of resource development is bipartisan cooperation. We should not be swayed by short-term fluctuations, and from the perspective of future generations, it is crucial to pursue resource development long-term, as experienced by resource-rich nations that have succeeded. Therefore, the Republic of Korea should also focus on the long-term future value of our waters without being influenced by short-term concerns and must approach this from a bipartisan standpoint. Excessive partisan and political interpretations are not beneficial for future generations and national interest."
Earlier, the government judged that there was no economic feasibility for the promising structure of the gas field during the first exploratory drilling of the Donghae deep-sea gas field project the previous day. In response, the opposition criticized it as a "national fraud."