대충 요약좀

내가 생각하는 서열은? :설포카/연/고한     Happy Lunar New Year~~~       SINGAPORE (Dow Jones Newswires - Wall Street Journal Asia) --   With oil prices hovering at high levels, South Korean companies are increasingly focusing on acquiring stakes in active oil and gas fields, instead of participating in projects that are in the initial exploration stage.   Although it costs less to buy into fields that are under development, these fields don't guarantee success, and even if the projects do succeed, it typically takes years for revenue to flow in, which could explain the shift toward oil and gas producing assets.   South Korea, which is the world's fourth largest oil importer, imports oil and gas to meet the majority of its requirements. As such, acquisitions of more active oil and gas fields by South Korean companies could potentially result in more supplies, which would bolster the country's energy security.   "Exploration fields have weaker cash flows in companies' portfolios," an official at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said.   "Since it takes a long time for exploration fields to start production, companies are trying to balance their portfolios by adding more producing assets," said the Mocie official who declined to be named, adding that the government is supportive of the move.   Amid the government's push to increase energy security and with oil prices staying near record highs, South Korea's state-run and private oil companies have been actively seeking overseas oil and gas assets.   In the first half of 2007, production from overseas oil and gas fields in which South Korean companies have stakes in rose by 22% from a year earlier to 21.16 million barrels of oil equivalent, according to Mocie's latest estimate.   However, the bulk of South Korean companies' oil and gas reserves, estimated around 170 billion barrels of oil equivalent, has yet to come onstream.   The government hopes that oil and gas assets owned by South Korean companies will be able to meet 18.1% of the country's annual demand by 2012 from less than 5% currently, although the self-development ratio is largely symbolic because oil and gas from overseas assets aren't necessarily exported to South Korea. · · S Korean Cos Seal Major Oil Field Deals · There was a major breakthrough last week when the government announced two acquisitions by South Korean companies.   A South Korean consortium comprising state-run Korea National Oil Corp. and Samsung Corp. (000830.SE) signed a $1 billion deal with U.S. company Taylor Energy to buy an offshore oil field in the Gulf of Mexico comprising 16 oil leases, the energy ministry said Friday.   The field, which produces 17,000 barrels a day, is the largest producing foreign oil field that South Korean companies have acquired, the energy ministry said. It has reserves of about 61 million barrels, and production will be increased to 19,000 barrels a day in 2009, it said.   North American oil and gas fields are attractive to South Korean companies because the region has fewer geopolitical risks, but the government doesn't have preference for any particular region.   Additionally, the government Friday said KNOC signed an agreement to buy an 11% stake in M'Boundi oil field in Congo from U.K.'s Tullow Oil PLC (TULWY) for $435 million, adding that the government will continue to encourage South Korean companies to acquire producing fields.   The field, which has oil reserves totaling 266 million barrels, is producing around 40,000 barrels a day.   With these acquisitions, South Korea's self-development ratio is estimated to rise to 4.92% from 4.2% at the end of 2007, the ministry said. However, such acquisitions are by no means cheap. It usually costs $10-15 a barrel to acquire a producing oil field, said Cho A-Hyung, an analyst at Credit Suisse in Seoul.   Based on the reserves in the Gulf of Mexico field and the $1-billion price tag, the consortium paid around $16 a barrel, putting it slightly beyond the typical range. Such costly acquisitions can yield profits only when oil prices are high, and the rate of return is lower than exploration and production projects, she said.   At current oil prices, the field, which has low risks, seems to be profitable, Samsung Securities said in a report. If oil prices stay around $65 a barrel, the internal rate of return for Samsung Corp. is estimated to be at least 15%, and if oil prices rise to around $100 a barrel, the IRR could be higher than 23%, the report said. · · Competition For Oil Asset Acquisitions · Such profitability underpinned by stubbornly high oil prices, coupled with governments' efforts to increase energy security, has intensified global competition for energy resources, pushing costs even higher.   Deep-pocketed oil companies from neighboring China have been aggressively buying foreign energy assets, amid ever-rising energy demand at home.   High costs are a concern for South Korea, but more funds are becoming available to support the country's companies in acquiring energy assets overseas, so "funding shouldn't be a problem if there is a good field," the Mocie official said.   The National Pension Service of South Korea may invest in the Gulf of Mexico deal as part of its agreement in December with state-owned KNOC, Korea Gas Corp. (036460.SE) and Korea Resources Corp.   Under the agreement, NPS plans to invest KRW20 trillion in oil, gas and mineral development in the next 10 years by participating in the three companies' overseas projects.   The government also launched a fund last year to raise KRW200 billion ($211 million) with investment from the private sector to finance the purchase of oil reserves in Vietnam.   The government has also been supporting South Korean state-owned companies' mergers and acquisitions of foreign energy companies, but this has borne little success so far.   Last year, KNOC made a bid for London-listed Burren Energy PLC (BUR.LN), but a prohibitively high price forced the state-owned company to withdraw its bid. In October, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that KNOC had tabled an indicative offer of GBP11 a share, valuing Burren at GBP1.5 billion ($3 billion). ·