South Korea finds potentially 14 billion barrels of oil, gas off its coast worth $1.4 TRILLION

South Korea has found what could potentially be a global game-changer: a massive reserve of oil and gas offshore close to its southeastern territory in the East Sea.

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The news comes from South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who provided the world with the news in his first televised national briefing, where the president gave the energy minister the green light to begin exploration drilling for the oil and gas prospects. Yoon told the press: "The possibility of the area containing as much as 14 billion barrels of oil and gas is very high. Today, I gave my approval for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to go ahead with the drilling for exploration deep in the East Sea".

Last year, the presidential office said the government commissioned an in-depth analysis of the area, searching for potential oil and gas reserves with US-based research firm ACT-Geo, after an earlier study teased the high possibility of oil and gas reserves near the Donghae gas field.

If the volume of oil and gas is confirmed, it's estimated at a game-changing $1.4 trillion... that's $1,400,000,000,000... or 5x the market valuation of Samsung, one of the biggest companies in the world, and South Korea's most valuable company. President Yoon said that the 14 billion barrels of gas and oil is over 300x bigger than the gas discovered in the Donghae field in the late 90s, and would be enough to meet South Korea's natural gas demand for 29 years, and oil demand for 4 years.

President Yoon said that the first drilling operations will begin by the end of this year, with preliminary results expected in the first half of 2025.