Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) is conducting a test to verify the world’s first ship-to-ship LNG shipment for the trial operation of an LNG bunker vessel (LNGBV). (Photos: KOGAS)

Korea LNG Bukering signed a contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) to build a 7,500-cubic-meter LNG bunker vessel (LNGBV) on Feb. 24.

Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) established Korea LNG Bukering, a subsidiary, specializing in the LNG bunkering business.

The deal calls for the building of an LNGBV, outfitted with an arm for the exclusive and effective bunkering of LNG and BOG reliquifaction system. The planned LNGBV will supply LNG with a format based on the Tongyeong LNG Terminal from February 2023.

Korea LNG Bukering will receive a 15 billion won subsidy in accordance with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s program to provide support to the building of LNGBVs.

The step is expected to ease economic problems caused by lower early-stage demand and reduce facility investments, thus supplying LNG at higher competitive prices.

A Korea LNG Bukering official said SM Jeju LNG No. 2, Asia’s first LNG bunker ship, will not only launch ship-to-ship (STS) bunkering, but also LNG supply via the nation’s first LNG bunker ship will be expanded starting 2023.

If the LNG bunkering business is invigorated, it will greatly contribute to improving the nation’s marine air environment conditions and the development of the Korean shipbuilding industry through additional ordering of LNGBSs.

Meanwhile, effective January 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) enforced a new limit on sulfur content in the fuel oil used on board ships to 0.5 percent m/m (mass by mass) or less.

In the wake of the regulation, LNG uses are forecast to jump to some 30 million tons globally and about 1.4 million tons in Korea.

Senior Executive Vice President Lee Seung of Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) poses after receiving the Shared Growth Grand Prix at the 2021 National Industry Grand Prize Awards ceremony for the second straight year at Swiss Grand Hotel in Seoul on April 15.

KOGAS Enters Thai GTP Project Market

KOGAS reached an MOU for the Songkhla gas-to-power (GTP) project with Korea Western Power (KOWEPO) and Thai Petrochemical Industry Polene Power on March 3.

The signing ceremony, which was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was attended by Park Young-kwon, head of KOGAS’s new growth engine business division, Han Sang-moon, chief of KOWEPO’s business division, and TPIPP Chairman Prachai Leophairatana.

The Songkhla GTP project calls for the supply of LNG to the Songkhla area, south of Thailand, and building an LNG terminal and a power plant.

As the Thai designated the Songkhla area as a special economic zone in 2016, TPIPP offered the joint-venture proposal to KOGAS.

Under the agreement, KOGAS will be responsible for the supply of LNG, construction and operation of an LNG terminal by making the most of the experiences and expertise that KOGAS has accumulated in the implementation of LNG projects in Korea and abroad.

KOGAS will also play a leading part with KOWEPO in fund-raising. TPIPP will be charged with leadership roles such as permits and licenses as well as project management.

KOGAS will create new revenues by securing a new overseas LNG consumer site, and the corporation will aggressively provide support in joint market entries with Korean companies in the construction and financial sectors to revive the national economy and promote shared growth.

A KOGAS official said KOGAS will concentrate on making the Songkhla project in Thailand a springboard to enter the GTP market in emerging countries.

TPIPP, a subsidiary of TPI Group, specializes in the operation of petrochemical plants, production and sales of construction materials, and energy projects. The company also operates power plants with a combined capacity of 440MW.