SEOUL: South Korea will raise retail natural gas prices for households and industry by an average of 6.1% from November 1 to reflect higher LNG import costs, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Friday. It marks the first hike in city gas rate since September last year. The rate was cut three times this year — 5.6% in May, 9.5% in March and 9% in January. South Korea cut city gas rates by more than 20% last year on lower import prices.
“International oil prices have increased, boosting LNG import costs, so the government has decided to raise city gas rates from November 1,” the ministry said in a statement. LNG sales by state-owned Korea Gas Corp., which has a monopoly on domestic natural gas sales, fell 0.2% year on year to 1.969 million mt in September. The September sales were also down 10.4% from 2.197 million mt in August.
