SK Innovation to expand shale gas development business

SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- The head of SK Innovation Co., South Korea's biggest refinery, pledged that his company will expand its shale gas development business in the United States to actively take part in the new global energy, the company said Sunday. "Starting from the U.S., the shale gas boom is spreading throughout the world," company President Koo Ja-young was quoted as saying during his U.S. visit. "We will change our U.S. unit to an outpost to spearhead development of unconventional energy sources like shale gas." The refinery's subsidiary SK E&P America Inc. acquired controlling shares in two oil fields in Oklahoma and Texas in April for US$360 million in total. SK Innovation produces a combined 4,500 barrels of crude oil and gas per day on U.S. soil, with 3,750 barrels from its Oklahoma well, according to the company. Some 15 percent of oil produced at the Oklahoma field is extracted from the shale stratum, it noted. SK Innovation is the only South Korean refinery that produces shale gas or oil in overseas oil fields, the company said. It runs 22 oil fields in 15 countries across the world, with a daily capacity of 75,500 barrels of crude. Shale gas is a new and inexpensive source of energy that may reshape the global energy market once fully developed. It had been considered uneconomical mostly due to a lack of technology to extract the gas from shale formations, but recently developed new technology has made the gas available at lower prices. brk@yna.co.kr (END)