ACT-GEO founder arrives in Korea to discuss possible gas and oil reserves

Vitor Abreu, founder of ACT-GEO, arrived in Korea to address skepticism about the company's reports of potential oil and gas reserves off Korea's east coast. Abreu will hold a news conference Friday.

Vitor Abreu, founder of ACT-GEO, which conducted a study claiming to have discovered oil and gas reserves off of Korea's east coast, speaks to press after arriving at the Incheon International Airport on Wednesday morning. [YONHAP]

Vitor Abreu, founder of ACT-GEO, a U.S. consulting firm that claims to have discovered large gas and oil reserves off Korea's east coast, arrived in Korea Wednesday amid mounting skepticism regarding the credibility of the company's research.

Abreu said ACT-GEO's report had “raised a lot of questions for the Korean people and the community,” upon arriving at Incheon International Airport on Wednesday morning.

The founder said he'd come to give Korea's population a “clearer response” regarding the company's “very, very important project.”

When asked if the reserves' potential economic value had been evaluated, Abreu said, “Yes,” but did not elaborate further due to a confidentiality agreement with the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), the state-run organization that commissioned the project.

Abreu said he'd received a request from the Korean government to evaluate the prospect of the waters around Yeongil Bay in Pohang, North Gyeongsang.

He will hold a news conference on Friday to answer additional questions about ACT-GEO's report.

The controversy began Monday when Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced that reserves of oil and gas — containing as many as 14 billion barrels — were likely buried in Yeongil Bay, citing in-depth research ACT-GEO had been conducting since February 2023.

Suspicions about the study's credibility soon surfaced, however, when online posts revealed that ACT-GEO's headquarters corresponded with a rundown residential building and had fewer than 10 employees.

KNOC pushed back against those concerns on Tuesday, stating that ACT-GEO has worked on projects in Guyana, Brazil, Myanmar and Kazakhstan with talent pool drawn from large oil companies like ExxonMobil, Shell and BP.

The Korean oil corporation has not yet revealed the original report ACT-GEO submitted to the Korean government. The reasoning behind that decision has not yet been confirmed.

Abreu, who has more than 30 years of experience in the oil industry, currently serves as an adviser to ACT-GEO.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]