Drilling the Great Whale is as early as tonight's first shovel...the possibility of delay in the event of a bad weather

The West Capella drilling ship, which is set to launch its first exploration of the East Sea deep-sea gas field, is expected to begin drilling as early as tonight.

The Korea National Oil Corporation said the West Capella has arrived in the area where it is scheduled to drill with a promising structure called the Great Whale and is preparing to excavate.

However, he added that the local wave height is as high as 5-6 meters and the wind is strong, so there is a possibility that the schedule may be delayed a little depending on the weather conditions.

The Great Whale's promising structure is located about 50 km east of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, and is formed over the 8th and 6-1th mines in the East Sea.

Drilling is expected to take about two months to penetrate the seabed 1.2km below the depth of the sea and collect samples.

The cost of the first drilling was 100 billion won, which was originally planned to be paid for half by the government and half by KNOC, but the government's budget plan for next year cut all related costs, leaving KNOC to bear all the burden.