President Donald Trump said Friday that the investment agreement between South Korea and the United States now includes $8.4 billion for an enhanced oil recovery project. Seoul says it did not agree to such a thing.
“The ROK deal just keeps getting better! $8.4 billion for an upgraded oil recovery project. Producing more oil and gas means American energy dominance and global energy security for the future!” Trump wrote at Truth Social.
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is used to further reduce production from aging fields after extraction has slowed using conventional methods. The process may involve injecting carbon dioxide, natural gas, steam or other materials into a reservoir to push more oil into production wells.
Truth Social’s post did not identify the domain, operator or location of the $8.4 billion project.
South Korea’s Ministry of Industry said the EOR investment was not included in the strategic investment agreement between the two countries. Seoul has requested clarification from Washington, according to Yonhap.
This isn’t the only round of investment announcements between the U.S. and South Korea this week, and just a few weeks ago South Korea said it was seeking to halve its dependence on Middle Eastern crude by 2035.
Trump said Wednesday that South Korea would invest $200 billion in U.S. projects, including eight large nuclear power plants, a 6-gigawatt power generation facility in Texas and a pipeline associated with the Alaska LNG project. The $200 billion comes on top of an additional $150 billion promised for shipbuilding as part of a broader $350 billion investment program negotiated last year.
Seoul has been considerably more cautious regarding the Alaska issue. The South Korean government says participation in the roughly $54 billion pipeline project remains subject to commercial viability and legal review, and no final investment decisions have yet been made.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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