President Park Geun-hye held a meeting on June 23 at Cheong Wa Dae with CEO Ben van Beurden of Royal Dutch Shell, an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in the Netherlands.

During the meeting, the president and the corporate head shared their thoughts on a wide range of energy-related issues, including global gas markets and how to cooperate in constructing offshore plants for oil exploration and shipbuilding.


“On the one hand, we are in the middle of a growing increase in energy demand in many parts of the world, as well as across Asian emerging markets. However, on the other hand, we are facing instability in global energy markets,” President Park pointed out.

She then went on to say, “It is our important task to keep a close eye on what impacts such instability will bring and to set up measures to deal with them.”

The president also expressed her gratitude to the CEO for his company’s constant investment in Korea and its hiring of a domestic workforce ever since it established its Korean offices in 1977.

She continued to praise the company for letting Korean energy firms join in on a series of major projects, such as the Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) development project in Australia. The president also asked that the company continue to work with Korean enterprises on future projects.

In response, Van Beurden said that, “My hope is that the ongoing Prelude FLNG project will be completed with good success, and that the success will bring us closer and help expand our cooperative bilateral relationship.”

By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
jiae5853@korea.kr