South Korea, which imports almost all of its fuel needs, may seek to develop oil and gas fields in Venezuela to help stabilize its energy supply.
South Korean officials discussed the possibility of joining in a project to develop reserves in the Orinoco Belt with state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the South Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
South Korean delegates including Vice Minister for Trade and Energy Lee Jae-hoon visited Venezuela last week.
South Korea is stepping up efforts along with China and Japan to own oil and gas fields as crude prices surge to records.
Oil doubled in the past year, touching a record US$139.89 a barrel last Monday.
Venezuela has the world’s third-largest proven crude-oil reserves.
National oil companies from countries including China, Vietnam and Iran are taking part in Venezuela’s project to quantify and certify reserves in the Orinoco region, which holds so-called heavy oil.
A South Korean consortium led by Korea National Oil Corp may bid to develop two Orinoco areas, Carabobo 1 and 4, the statement said.
Venezuela expects to certify more than 200 billion barrels of crude oil reserves in the Orinoco Magna Reserve project, the country’s energy and oil ministry said in October.
South Korea and Venezuela also agreed to sign a preliminary pact in the second half of this year to cooperate on natural gas extraction and to discuss the need for joint oil reserves, the statement said.
Separately, Posco, Asia’s third-largest steelmaker, may seek to build a 500,000 tonne stainless steel mill in Venezuela.
Posco met with the Venezuelan Deputy Minister of Basic Industries Jesus Paredes to discuss the possible construction of the mill and the two sides will meet again on the project next month, Paredes said in a statement on Saturday.
Posco spokeswoman Ko Min-jin didn’t answer a telephone call yesterday.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Wednesday said that a new chip manufacturing technology called “A16” is to enter production in the second half of 2026, setting up a showdown with longtime rival Intel over who can make the fastest chips. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of advanced computing chips and a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, announced the news at a conference in Santa Clara, California, where TSMC executives said that makers of artificial intelligence (AI) chips will likely be the first adopters of the technology rather than a smartphone maker. Analysts said that the technologies announced on
NO RECIPROCITY: Taipei has called for cross-strait group travel to resume fully, but Beijing is only allowing people from its Fujian Province to travel to Matsu, the MAC said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday criticized an announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism that it would lift a travel ban to Taiwan only for residents of China’s Fujian Province, saying that the policy does not meet the principles of reciprocity and openness. Chinese Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan (饒權) yesterday morning told a delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in a meeting in Beijing that the ministry would first allow Fujian residents to visit Lienchiang County (Matsu), adding that they would be able to travel to Taiwan proper directly once express ferry
CALL FOR DIALOGUE: The president-elect urged Beijing to engage with Taiwan’s ‘democratically elected and legitimate government’ to promote peace President-elect William Lai (賴清德) yesterday named the new heads of security and cross-strait affairs to take office after his inauguration on May 20, including National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to be the new defense minister and former Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) as minister of foreign affairs. While Koo is to head the Ministry of National Defense and presidential aide Lin is to take over as minister of foreign affairs, Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) would be retained as the nation’s intelligence chief, continuing to serve as director-general of the National Security Bureau, Lai told a news conference in Taipei. Koo,
MANAGING DIFFERENCES: In a meeting days after the US president signed a massive foreign aid bill, Antony Blinken raised concerns with the Chinese president about Taiwan US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and senior Chinese officials, stressing the importance of “responsibly managing” the differences between the US and China as the two sides butt heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues, including Taiwan and the South China Sea. Talks between the two sides have increased over the past few months, even as differences have grown. Blinken said he raised concerns with Xi about Taiwan and the South China Sea, along with China’s support for Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as other issues