South Korean state-owned Korea Gas Corp has set the wheels in motion to replace the expiring long-term LNG supply deals.
However, the company aims to expand its supply sources by looking at other options besides the Middle East or Southeast Asian suppliers.
Speaking at an energy forum in Seoul, Kogas senior executive vice president Lim Jong-Kook , said the company is scouting the market for new term deals, Platts reports.
With the end of 2018, Kogas will see two of its contracts amounting to 3 million tons of LNG per year expire, while one deal for 1 mtpa with Indonesia’s Badak LNG already ended.
The company has long-term deals in place for 17.28 mtpa with projects in Qatar, Oman and Yemen that are all set to expire by 2030.
Lim added that the company is looking for new term deals under current market conditions, but it will also focus on collaborative efforts with other companies to keep the prices down and boost its bargaining power at the negotiations table.
Joint efforts will also include the volume swaps, trading as well as the use of storage facilities.
Kogas also intends to import 700,000 tons of the chilled fuel over a 40-year period, starting in 2024, from the Shell-led Canada LNG project that was recently sanctioned and in which Kogas holds a 5 percent stake.
Lim said that part of these volumes could also be sold to third parties, which would depend on South Korea’s LNG market conditions.
LNG World News Staff