South Korea's hopes for a major oil and gas project off its east coast may not be economically feasible, according to initial drilling results, energy ministry officials said on Thursday.
Recent drilling showed some signs of gas prospects but the amount was not believed to be meaningful, the officials said by telephone.
Earlier, Yonhap news agency quoted a vice minister as telling reporters that data from the initial drilling still held some promise and may prove useful in guiding further exploration.
Plans for further drilling were yet to be determined, the officials said.
President Yoon Suk Yeol announced the project in June last year and approved exploratory drilling, saying the area could hold as much as 14 billion barrels of oil and gas.
The announcement raised hopes of eventually tapping a reserve of enough gas to fuel one of the world's largest energy importers for 29 years.
The site is off the southeastern industrial port city of Pohang and inside the country's Exclusive Economic Zone, Yoon and energy ministry officials said at the time.
Since the June announcement, sceptics including opposition parties questioned the cost of exploring for reserves in a project that local media cited government officials as saying had a 20% success rate.
Yoon said in June that drilling could cost 100 billion won ($69 million) for each of the up to five wells that are being considered.
In December, the opposition parties, which control parliament, slashed almost all of the government budget planned for the project in 2025.
Yoon was impeached by parliament later in December and suspended from power for declaring a short-lived martial law, which plunged the country into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
($1 = 1,449.8500 won)
(Reuters - Reporting by Jack Kim. Editing by Kim Coghill and Mark Potter)
