The owner of the U.S.-based geoscience research company Act-Geo that participated in an analysis of possible oil and gas deposits in waters off the southeastern city of Pohang said on Friday that the project is “highly prospective.”

Vitor Abreu presented the promising outlook in a press conference at the government complex in Sejong City, saying that all the wells his firm analyzed had all the key elements to suggest the presence of oil and gas.

In the press conference organized by the state-run Korea National Oil Corporation, Abreu said that his firm’s study suggests the possibility of traps and accumulated hydrocarbons in the offshore fields, adding global oil-related companies are seeing the potential and already paying great attention.

He said that though the firm’s study has discovered the potential existence of gas and oil, the only way to prove it is to drill. 

As for the presumed 20 percent success rate of the project, Abreu said that it means the project has a very good, high probability of success.