The government has announced that Seoul will be able to independently produce six to eight hundred million barrels of crude oil by participating in joint projects with Kazakhstan to develop oil fields in the Caspian Sea. The estimated amount is nearly half that of potential oil deposits in the area.

The agreement capped off President Roh Moo-hyun's official visit to the Central Asian country which ended Monday.

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said Tuesday that a South Korean consortium led by the state-run Korea National Oil Corporation signed a protocol with Kazakhstan's state oil firm KazMunaiGas, paving the way for Korean firms to tap into viable oil deposits and receive oil field development rights in the Tenge region.

Meanwhile, Korea Resources Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with Kazakhstan's state-run uranium firm KazAtomProm for joint development of uranium mines in the south of the country. The deal is expected to make it possible for South Korea to secure 1,000 tons of uranium every year over the next 30 years. One-thousand tons equals about 10 percent of the country's annual uranium consumption.

Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-beom said that the joint oil development projects with Kazakhstan is expected to raise the nation's self-dependence level on oil supplies up to seven percent from the current three percent level.