Qatar and S Korea sign energy deal

DOHA - Qatar and South Korea yesterday signed a strategic energy cooperation deal, Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said.

He gave no further specific details of the deal, although he said there were talks underway between Qatar and Korea's KOGAS on gas supply.

Korean Deputy Minister for Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Won-Gul said the deal had set up a series of meetings between the two sides, the first of which will take place later this year.

He said oil supply, as well as gas, will be discussed.

"What we want to get is to develop a cooperative relationship," he said after the deal was announced at the International Energy Forum meeting of producers and consumers.

South Korea is the second biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas in the world and is looking to diversify its supply sources. Qatar has the third largest gas reserves in the world and is a major LNG exporter. It also exports oil as a member of Opec.

A delay to the development of Russia's eastern Kovykta gas field has opened the way for Seoul to look for alternatives, analysts say.

- REUTERS