04-07-08 Korea Gas, the world’s biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas, will spend won 2.74 tn ($ 2.64 bn) as part of a plan to almost triple its capacity to store the fuel by 2020.
The state-run utility will build a fourth gas storage base in Gangwon Province in the country’s east, including 14 storage tanks, port facilities and a pipeline by 2019, the Seongnam-based company said.

South Korean gas demand may rise 3.5 % annually to 40.35 mm tons by 2020 from 24.84 mm tons in 2006, government estimates show, as the country increases the number of power stations that burn the fuel. Asia’s fourth-largest economy imports all of its oil and gas requirements.
“Demand for natural gas is increasing and that trend will continue,” said Kim In Ki, a Korea Gas investor relations official. “We need to expand our capacity for gas storage.”

The gas supplier plans to build a fifth storage base later to expand its total capacity to 14.3 mm kilolitres, or 6.5 mm tons, by 2020 from 5.2 mm kl now, Korea Gas said.
LNG is gas chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one-six-hundredth of its original volume for transportation by tankers to destinations not connected by pipeline. On arrival, it is turned back into gas for delivery to users such as power plants, factories and households.