President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Monday that a study suggests the possibility of enormous deposits of oil and gas in waters off the country's southeastern city of Pohang.

The president made the remarks in a policy briefing at the presidential office, saying that his government assessed there was a high possibility of oil and gas fields in the East Sea and entrusted a world-class company specializing in deep-sea natural resource exploration to conduct an in-depth analysis in February last year. 

Yoon said the study recently found that there is a high possibility of around 14 billion barrels of oil and gas deposits in the East Sea, adding the findings were verified by research institutes and experts. 

Yoon said he approved the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's plan for exploration and drilling of deep-sea oil and gas fields in the East Sea, adding that if the drilling operation begins at the end of this year, the nation is likely to see some results in the first half of next year.