POSCO completes LNG terminal in Gwangyang
Aiming to cut costs and pollution, POSCO, Korea's largest steelmaker, completed the country's first privately built
terminal for receiving liquefied natural gas at its Gwangyang mill. The terminal, costing around 322.6 bn won, boasts
a storage capacity of 1.7 mm tons of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, a year.
The average capacity among the nation's terminals is 1.15 mm tons.
Heralded as an affordable and cleaner alternative to fossil energy, LNG has gained worldwide popularity over the past
few years, including Korea. The gas produced from the Pohang-based steelmaker's terminal will mostly be used to
supply its LNG power plants and the K-Power power plant, a subsidiary of SK Corp., the country's largest oil
refiner.
The new facility also includes a port for large-scale LNG carriers and two LNG tanks that hold up to 100,000
kiloliters of gas.
The LNG terminal is the first to be constructed by a private corporation in Korea. State-run Korea Gas Corp., the
world's largest buyer of the gas, currently operates 22 LNG tanks.
“The terminal holds much meaning in that it is the first to be created by a non-government corporation, and we
see it to help reduce operating costs and pollution in the area by supplying cleaner and cheaper gas,” said a
POSCO official.
To facilitate a stable supply line for LNG, POSCO signed a contract with Indonesia's Tangguh consortium in July last
year to access to an annual 550,000 tons of LNG over the next 20 years.
Currently, the steel manufacturer uses LNG to generate more than 20 % of the power used at its steel mills.
