SEOUL: South Korean utility company Kogas has completed the US$1.2 billion first stage of its LNG-import terminal at Samcheok, east of Seoul, a year later than originally planned.
Samcheok LNG is due to be completed in three stages, to store up to 2.4 million mᶾ of LNG in 12 200,000mᶾ tanks. So far, the project has completed four storage tanks, the breakwater and a berth to unload 270,000mᶾ LNG carriers.
Kogas will complete the next two stages of the project next year, adding six tanks, and in 2017. South Korea’s fourth LNG-import terminal will supply gas to the northeast of the country. The country also imports LNG through Pyeongtaek, Incheon and Tongyeong.
South Korea is expected to account for more than a fifth of all Asian LNG imports this year, although its demand is slowing. It imported 38 million tonnes in 2014, representing an annual drop of nearly 7 per cent. However, the country is now looking to promote small-scale LNG projects, delivering gas for power generation to its outlying islands.
Kogas chief executive Lee Seung-hoon said: “The Samcheok LNG production base will herald a new era of clean energy of natural gas in the eastern coast of Korea.”
