Officials from Seoul and Moscow said yesterday that Deputy Prime Minister Sechin will make a rare visit to Korea to discuss measures agreed upon at a September 29 summit between President Lee Myung-bak and President Dmitry Medvedev. Officials added they expect Korea’s 40 percent stake in the West Kamchatka oil field to be finalized during his visit.

West Kamchatka oil field is believed to hold 3.7 billion barrels with an estimated worth of W370 trillion (US$1=W1,424). Deputy Prime Minister Sechin is the right-hand man of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and has been the president of Rosneft, a large Russian state-owned oil company, for four years, while concurrently serving as deputy prime minister.

The West Kamchatka development project was about to be abandoned, as Russia cancelled the contract it had signed with Korean firms to jointly develop the area back in July. However, President Lee and President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to revive the large-scale project during their summit.

Mr. Sechin will reportedly also discuss specific measures to allow Korea to import 7.5 million tons of natural gas per year from Russia beginning in 2015. In a planned meeting with the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Mr. Sechin may additionally propose Korea participate in Russia’s new energy development project. The top Russian official is also likely to ask the Korean Government to improve Russia’s huge trade deficit with Korea -- which exceeds US$1 billion a year.

(englishnews@chosun.com )