S.Korea to beef up energy, resource development in 2011

SEOUL Dec 15 (Reuters) - South Korea will raise the rate at which its companies develop oil and gas to 13 percent next year of its overall imports from this year's 10 percent, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said on Wednesday.

The world's fifth-largest crude oil buyer will import one million barrels of crude oil for storage in 2011, the ministry said in a statement.

"While continuing enlarging Korea National Oil Corp [KOILC.UL] (KNOC) by acquiring potential assets, we will stretch gas businesses from imports to upstream including exploration, gas field acquisition and production," said the ministry.

South Korea is the world's second-largest gas importer after Japan.

"We will make an effort to raise firms in resource development services such as assessing reserves, exploring and drilling, which we depend on foreign service providers."

Asia's fourth-largest economy will double its combined self-sufficiency rate for "new strategic minerals" such as rare earth and lithium, to 10 percent in 2011 from 5.5 percent in 2010, the statement said.

South Korea will set up the country's first storage facility for rare metals with a capacity of 35-day consumption in the second half of 2011, while increasing its inventory to 13.5-day consumption from 8.1 days year on year, the statement said.

South Korea will separately strengthen its new and renewable energy sectors to achieve $40 billion of exports in 2015, compared with $4.6 billion marked in 2009, it added.

(Reporting by Cho Mee-young; Editing by David Chance)