POSCO acquires 98-per cent stake in Uzbekistan''s Aral gas field
23 Dec 2006
The world's third largest steel maker, South Korea's POSCO has acquired a 9.8-per cent stake in Uzbekistan's Aral gas field.
In the recent past, Aecelor Mittal CEO L N Mittal's Mittal Investments has been acquiring a interests in oil fields in a bid to stabilise energy resources for its steel business. It is believed POSCO's decision was based on similar motive.
South Korea's state-owned Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) already has a 10.2- per cent stake in the same gas field, since August 2006, when it signed a $20 million production-sharing pact with the Uzbek government for a 36-million tonnes of LNG
According to estimates, the Aral field is expected to have around 8-trillion cubic feet of gas, although the final reserve figure will be confirmed only after appraisal drilling.
Uzbekistan, a largely agrarian Central Asian state of 26 million, enjoys ample reserves of energy and metals, but the state tightly regulates the economy and investors have largely bypassed it since independence in 1991.
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