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CORRECTED - CORRECTED-S.Korea considers $617.7 mln investment in KNOC

Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:44pm EDT

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(Corrects headline to million from trillion)

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SEOUL, April 30 (Reuters) - South Korean government is considering investing 620 billion won ($617.7 million) in Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC), an online news provider quoted government officials as saying on Wednesday.

Seoul's energy ministry and KNOC were not immediately available for comment.

Online news provider MoneyToday said the move was in response to South Korean president Lee Myung-bak's request last month to expand the size of KNOC to encourage overseas exploration aimed at building energy reserves amid volatile crude oil prices.

KNOC, with capital of 5.4 trillion won and assets estimated at 9.4 trillion won, is significantly smaller than other state-run oil firms such as China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), and Japan's INPEX Holdings Inc (1605.T).

The investments have been made since 1995 in the state reserve that is to be used in the event of oil shocks.

South Korea, the world's 10th-largest energy consumer, imports 96 percent of its reserves from overseas. (Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Ken Wills)

($1=1003.7 Won)

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