GS Global Corp., a chemical unit of GS Group, said Sunday that it has acquired stakes in a U.S. oil field with the aim to step up efforts to enter the overseas resource development market.

GS Global said it has inked a deal with Longfellow Nemaha LLC, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Longfellow Energy, to acquire a 20 percent stake in the Nemaha oil field located in Oklahoma

With fellow local companies GS Energy and Fine Partners Corp. also each winning a 10 percent stake during the bid in Dallas, Korean companies have secured 40 percent stakes in the oil field.

GS Group said it would inject $460 million in the project in the coming nine years. But the actual investment would be worth one-fifth of the amount as the group plans to use future oil and gas revenues generated there.

The 170 square-kilometer oil field, located in northern Oklahoma, is estimated to hold 100 million barrels of oil equivalent. And the site is expected to be extended up to 243 square kilometers in the near future.

The company predicted that the full-fledged commercial sale of the oil production could start in the latter half of this year.

“We have great expectations about the new investment into a gas field. It’s also meaningful that GS Global has taken the first step for overseas resource development,” said GS Global president and CEO Jung Taik-keun.

Starting with the new acquisition, the company plans to expand investment into overseas resource development projects such as oil and gas fields and soft coal.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)