Chairman Eun Song-soo of the Export and Import Bank of Korea(Eximbank).

A bird’s eyeview of the projected LNG terminal in Kuwait to be financed with the financial packages provided by Eximbank and K-sure in Korea.(Photos: Eximbank)

The Export and Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank), jointly with Korea Trade Insurance Corp. (K-sure), will provide $23 billion in credit guarantees and loans to finance an LNG terminal construction project in Kuwait, the Eximbank announced on May 20.
The mammoth project to build an LNG import terminal is being promoted by the Kuwait Petroleum Corp.’s affiliate KIPIC (Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Co.) with the guarantees provided by KPC covering the entire cost of the project, which comes to $36 billion in total.
Eximbank will extend $630 million in loans and $520 million in credit guarantees, while K-sure will issue $11.5 billion in trade guarantees for the Kuwaiti project.
Kuwait on May 28 inked a $2.93 billion contract with three South Korean firms for the construction of the largest LNG import facility in the oil-rich country. The project, to be built at the Al-Zour refinery near the border with Saudi Arabia, was awarded to Hyundai Engineering Co, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co and Korea Gas Corporation.
CEO of national refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Co Mohammad Al-Mutairi, who signed the contract, said the project is slated to be completed in the first quarter of 2021. OPEC member Kuwait is rich with crude oil, but its natural gas production is too small to meet its needs. Every year it imports large LNG quantities to supply power plants, especially during the summer, and for use in the petrochemicals industry.
The facility will be part of a huge complex being built in Al-Zour, south of Kuwait City, which will also house a state-of-the-art 615,000 barrel-per-day refinery and a petrochemicals plant. Mutairi said the cost of the complex is expected to reach $30 billion.
Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, plans to build a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Al-Zour in Kuwait. The project includes the construction of a re-gasification facility, storage tanks and marine facilities. Al-Zour LNG terminal will be located in the Al-Zour region, approximately 90km south of the Kuwait’s capital, Kuwait City, near the border with Saudi Arabia.
State-owned KPC plans to invest more than $500 billion by 2040 as it aims to boost its crude oil production capacity to 4.75 million barrels per day by then.
KPC expects to spend $114 billion in capex over the next five years and an additional $394 billion beyond that to 2040, Chief Executive Nizar al-Adsani said this year.
Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) selected a consortium led by Hyundai Engineering Company (HEC) for the construction of Al-Zour LNG project.
The consortium also includes Hyundai E&C, and state-owned Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS).
Once fully-operational, the facility is expected to produce approximately 22 million metric tonnes (MMT) of natural gas a year and will have a storage capacity of 1.8 million m³ of LNG. The liquefaction capacity of the terminal will be 30 billion cubic metres a day (bcm/d).
HEC was awarded a $1.39bn contract for the construction of the re-gasification plant. Hyundai E&C is responsible to provide design and construction of the LNG storage tanks and to perform civil works for the construction of marine facilities, under a $1.52bn contract.
The LNG supplies from the facility will feed the power plants in the nation, enabling them to generate enough power to meet the electricity demand during peak times.
KOGAS was awarded a $16m contract to provide engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of plant.