President Choo Kang-soo has always stressed that Kogas should expand its own gas fields overseas in order to better compete with global gas firms.

Since his arrival at Kogas in 2006, he has been pushing the company’s overseas natural gas exploration under the slogan, “Kogas with the people, cooperating with global gas exploration companies.”

Choo thinks that Kogas should build a vertical gas production and supply system for its should-to-shoulder competition with global rivals, with operations ranging from exploration, production, and supply °™ all areas in the gas industry.

In order to expand its overseas exploration, the company set up the natural resources exploration headquarters to take charge of the plan. The new unit has been able to expand the exploration of natural resources from the southeast Asian region to five continents and six oceans in the world and from just importing natural gas to storing them in its terminal for domestic supply.

The CEO believes that Kogas should get out of the business of holding stakes in foreign natural resources explorers as sources for importing gas to Korea, but should instead take on further exploration of natural gas, production, and the building and operating of LNG terminals overseas.

Under its “Vision 2017” strategy, Kogas plans to hike its own gas supply ratio to 25 percent (8.5 million tons) of the total LNG supplied domestically from the current 3.6 percent (1.22 million tons), as well as boost the overseas share of the company’s total profit to 60 percent to increase the company’s value to 30 trillion won by 2017.

With the opening of the company’s special unit taking charge of its overseas operations, Kogas has been able to rapidly expand its overseas activities.

Kogas is currently engaged in drilling five gas fields overseas, nine overseas natural resources exploration projects, and three LNG production projects. In 2009, the company won the rights in Iraq to develop the Zubayr oil field followed by the rights for the Akas oil field, the seventh largest oil field in the world, both in an international bidding process, beating some of the world-famous oil majors.

Kogas, for the first time, has been engaged in the management of an oil field, winning global acclaim as a globally-competitive gas firm in the areas of engineering and procurement. Kogas is also counting heavily on a large gas field found in the 4th mining district in the sea off the northern coast of Mozambique in October last year and February this year.

Kogas holds a 10 percent stake in the mining district, which will secure the Korean company 90 million tons of natural gas from the gas field annually. They are set to drill four more test sites this year in the mining district.

Kogas has also been successful in the area of non-traditional gas-based next-generation energy products such as gas dehydrate, methane gas in coal deposits, and shale gas. In 2010, Kogas signed an agreement with Encana of Canada to develop three mining districts in northern Canada including West Cutbank and Horn River.

Kogas has also been engaged in the development of methane gas exploration in Queensland, Australia. 

In a first for a Korean state-run company, Kogas took over a 20 percent stake in the Umiak gas field in the polar region of Canada from MGM.

Kogas has also set out to reform its business portfolio by dividing it up among the world’s four major regions °™ in the Americas, the company plans to secure non-traditional energy products including shale gas; oil and gas from the Middle East; oil and gas exploration projects in Asia; and in Russia the company has been engaged in the search for E&P projects to participate in.

Kogas officials said this year they plan to be cautious about investing only in high-profit gas projects worldwide.