Korea Gas Corp., the world's biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas, is seeking stakes in fields in Australia, Oman, Papua New Guinea and Nigeria to secure stable supplies of the fuel, Chief Executive Choo Kang Soo said. “We have been contacting the owners of overseas fields including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Total SA,'' Choo said on Thursday in an interview at an oil conference here. Choo, appointed as head of Korea Gas in October, didn't indicate which project the company is interested in. Exxon is planning an LNG project in Papua New Guinea while Total has stakes in a Nigerian venture and in Australia's Ichthys LNG project. South Korea, which imports almost all its energy needs, wants to diversify sources of oil and gas as it competes with China, Japan and India for natural resources. Asian nations have stepped up their search for resources overseas as commodity prices fell from their records in July. “Korea Gas may want to secure stakes in more gas fields when plunging oil prices make them cheaper,'' said Kim Seung Woo, an analyst at Samsung Securities Co. “The company has made a good profit from even small stakes in two overseas fields.'' Korea Gas bought 1.2 percent of Oman Liquefied Natural Gas Co. in 1997 and 3 percent in Qatar Ras Gas in 1999, with investments reaching 2 billion won ($1.5 million) and 19 billion won, respectively, according to the Web site of the Seongnam, South Korea-based company. The company earned 347 billion won from Qatar Ras Gas and 71 billion won from Oman LNG from 2001 to 2007, data on the website show. The utility purchased an 8.9 percent stake in Yemen LNG Co. in 2005. The Yemen project is expected to produce 6.7 million metric tons of LNG a year from 2009 for 25 years.
