An exterior view of Korea Gas Corporation's headquarters. [Korea Gas Corporation]
An exterior view of Korea Gas Corporation's headquarters. [Korea Gas Corporation]

Daegu has officially staked its claim to host the headquarters of a proposed merged entity combining Korea Gas Corporation and Korea National Oil Corporation.

According to city officials, the government's public institution reform plan announced Sept. 3 should center on Korea Gas Corporation, and the headquarters of the integrated company — tentatively named the Energy and Resources Corporation — should be based in Daegu.

"Korea Gas Corporation must be at the core of the merger, and placing the integrated company's headquarters in Daegu, where Korea Gas Corporation's main office is currently located, is the most appropriate course of action in terms of the government's reform direction and organizational efficiency," the city said in a statement.

The city added that since the merger structure, headquarters location and functional realignment have yet to be finalized, the integrated company should be designed around the organization best positioned to stably oversee the nation's energy supply and supply chain after the merger.

The city particularly stressed that Korea Gas Corporation should serve as the anchor of the merger, given that it far surpasses Korea National Oil Corporation in organizational size, assets and sales.

Based on last year's financial results, Korea Gas Corporation employs 4,305 staff — roughly three times the 1,456 at Korea National Oil Corporation.

Korea Gas Corporation's total assets stand at 53.63 trillion won ($39.4 billion), compared with 19.44 trillion won for Korea National Oil Corporation. Sales also differ sharply, at 35.73 trillion won versus 3.14 trillion won, respectively.

Daegu also cited Korea Gas Corporation's Daegu-based headquarters as the operational hub for the nationwide natural gas import, storage, supply and management system, including the national supply chain management network.

The city said Daegu is therefore the most suitable location for the integrated company's headquarters.

Daegu is home to a central control center that monitors in real time 5,346 kilometers of natural gas main pipelines and 445 supply management stations across the country, meaning the national energy supply infrastructure is already in place there.

The city also pointed to Daegu's international energy network — built through hosting the World Energy Congress in 2013 and the World Gas Conference in 2022 — as well as its transportation links, educational institutions and medical facilities as additional strengths for siting the integrated company's headquarters.

"This merger is not simply a matter of changing an institution's name — it is a restructuring of the national energy supply chain and resource security framework," Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho said. "When organizational scale, operational systems, supply chain control capacity and policy continuity are all taken into account, Korea Gas Corporation must be at the center of the merger, and Daegu, where Korea Gas Corporation is based, is the most suitable location for the integrated company's headquarters."


kbj7653@heraldcorp.com