Korea National Oil and Abu Dhabi National Oil have signed an exploration and storage arrangement.
It marks the first time the two countries have agreed to work together on finding and developing new oil fields in the Middle Eastern country.
The MOU is expected to lay the foundation for South Korean companies to gain access to the UAE's vast energy resources and winning future tie-up contracts to build oil storage facilities, Kim Sang-mo, head of Koreas the ministry's oil development division, comments.
Experts will draw detailed plans on possible joint development projects in the coming months.
UAE is estimated to have the sixth largest crude oil reserves in the world. Of the estimated 97.8 billion barrels of oil that may be in the country about 96 percent is in Abu Dhabi.
The country is the second-largest seller of crude oil to South Korea with 137.1 million barrels worth of the fossil fuel being shipped on average every year.
