Seoul: At least two foreign companies have participated in a bid for South Korea's deep-sea gas field development project, the Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) said Sunday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the KNOC issued a bid invitation for the project in March, allowing interested parties to apply for acquisition of up to a 49 percent stake in the project to become a partner of KNOC, which will hold the majority stake. The KNOC confirmed that multiple companies have submitted bids but chose not to disclose details of the bidders to ensure fair evaluation.

The KNOC plans to select a preferred bidder among the applicants after reviewing their proposals through S and P Global. This selection process is crucial for the advancement of the deep-sea gas project aimed at developing the offshore reserves.

In another development, the KNOC announced the results of an in-depth analysis conducted on data from the first exploratory drilling in one of the seven potential oil and gas reserves located in the deep sea off Yeongil Bay in Pohang, about 270 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The analysis concluded that the Blue Whale prospect does not have economic feasibility for extraction.

The analysis found that while the Blue Whale prospect features a fine geological system of sandstone layers and cap rock, it lacks a retrievable amount of gas. As a result, the KNOC does not plan to conduct further exploratory drilling at this prospect. Instead, the company will establish a new business plan for the deep-sea gas development project after selecting a preferred bidder.