The Blue Whale project, a deepwater oil and gas exploration venture in the Ulleung Basin of the East Sea (also known as the Sea of Japan), has emerged as South Korea’s boldest yet also most uncertain bet on energy independence. Being the nation’s potentially first large-scale offshore hydrocarbon prospect, the field is believed to hold between 3.5 and 14 billion barrels of oil and gas – a wave of supply that could, if confirmed, satisfy up to 30 years of natural gas demand and 4 years of oil consumption. For a country that imports…