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A South Korean energy development consortium said Thursday that it has found a potentially huge offshore oil deposit in Russia's Kamchatka region.

The field, jointly controlled by South Korean oil developers and Russia's state-run oil company Rosneft, is estimated to hold 10.3 billion barrels of crude, the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) said. South Korean companies have a 40 percent stake, while the rest is owned by Rosneft.

Of the stake held by South Korean companies, KNOC holds half, while the rest is shared by GS-Caltex Corp., SK Corp, Daewoo International Corp., Kumho Petrochemical and Hyundai Corp.

It said preliminary, two-dimensional field studies conducted in 2005 and 2006 showed there was a good chance that a large oil field lay under the Sea of Okhotsk.

KNOC and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, said that while an internationally accredited petroleum exploration company claimed the chances of a large oil field is likely, more concrete confirmation will be made in November.

The oil field, located on the Kamchatka Peninsula's continental shelf, covers 62,680 square kilometers, an area roughly two thirds the size of South Korea. The field is spread across relatively shallow waters of less than 300 meters.

If the size of the field is confirmed, it will be far greater than the 3.7 billion barrels previously anticipated, and will be the largest oil find made by local companies.

"This single field could provide South Korea with oil for over a decade," a spokesman for the state-run company said. In 2006 the country imported 880 million barrels of oil.

The 15-1 offshore field in Vietnam holds an estimated 700 million barrels of crude, while another being explored in Nigeria may contain two billion barrels.

Companies involved in the project signed the final stake purchase contract in December 2006.

A spokesman for the KNOC said further testing of the offshore field is expected later in the year, while exploratory drilling is planned for 2008.

SEOUL, May 31 (Yonhap News)