Korea Oil’s Dana Bid Shows Asian Drive for Energy

Korea National Oil Corp.’s $2.6 billion bid for Dana Petroleum Plc, the state-owned company’s first hostile takeover attempt, shows South Korea is turning aggressive to lock up oil supplies after acquisitions by Chinese peers jumped eightfold in three years.

South Korean companies made 17 bids for foreign energy assets, including U.K.-based Dana, in the past 12 months, compared with 40 Chinese transactions, Bloomberg data show. The takeovers are being driven by demand for oil products, which the International Energy Agency forecasts will rise by an average 3.8 percent a year until 2015 in emerging Asian economies.