LNG

South Korea said the nation’s oldest coal-powered electricity generating plant would be shut down for good on December 31 in line with the government's plan to shift towards cleaner energy.

The Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy confirmed that the Honam Coal Power Plant located in Yeosu in South Jeolla province, 450 kilometres south of the capital Seoul, was scheduled to stop operations at the end of December.

“The plant has been in operation as a power producer since 1973,” added the Ministry.

The nation's nine other coal-based plants have all been retired since 2017 as their operational life cycles have expired.

“A new gas-fired generating facility using regasified LNG will be built at the Yeosu site,” said the Ministry.

The Hanyang Corporation has been grated permits to convert the city of Yeosu into a hub for LNG.

The approved project will include construction of LNG storage tanks, a jetty and other regasification infrastructure as well as truck-loading bays by 2024.

South Korea is the world’s third-largest LNG importer with access to global supplies.

The country's annual demand for LNG is expected to reach about 48 million tonnes in 2034 compared with 41.7MT estimated for 2021.

South Korea's imports of LNG in 2020 amounted to 40.81MT versus fourth-placed India’s 26.62MT.

The nation’s six large operational import terminals are at Boryyeong, Incheon, Kwangyang, Pyeong-Taek, Samcheok and Tong-Yeong.

The biggest supplier to South Korea is Qatar with just short of 10MT of cargoes and followed by Australia with 8.10MT.

South Korea, the world’s third-largest liquefied natural gas importer, is feeling the impact of increasing LNG prices and has just continued a freeze on power prices into the third quarter of 2021.

Nov 11 (LNGJ) - The South Korean energy subsidiary of steelmaking conglomerate Posco has begun operating its new liquefied natural gas supply business. The event was marked by a ceremony at the company’s Kwangyang LNG import terminal in Jeolla province. The terminal has previously supplied LNG only to the parent steelmaking company since 2005 when a commissioning cargo was shipped from Oman.

   Posco Energy explained that it planned to bring in LNG cargoes and store them in tanks inside designated customs-bonded zones, before suppling them to buyers. It also noted that given the location, its Kwangyang terminal was capable of meeting the growing demand for LNG in neighbouring Asian countries such as China.

South Korean steelmaker, LNG importer and trading company POSCO has formed a venture with research subsidiaries of US oil and gas major ExxonMobil to apply high-manganese steel to storage tanks for use in LNG and energy applications.

POSCO signed the accord with ExxonMobil's Research Engineering Company (RE) and ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company (URC) during an online ceremonyThe Korean group and the two ExxonMobil research units have agreed to make joint efforts to expand high-manganese steel's applications to global LNG projects and other energy-related sectors. 

ExxonMobil RE is in charge of basic research for materials for the US company and ExxonMobil URC is responsible for new material applications in existing facilities. 
Manganese steel refers to steel alloy containing 10 percent to 27 percent manganese to improve durability, strength and cryogenic toughness.

Due to its strength, the material is designed to be applied to cryogenic LNG and fuel tanks.

POSCO developed its high-manganese steel in 2013, containing 22.5 percent to 25.5 percent of manganese and it is capable of withstanding temperatures as low as minus 196 degrees Celsius.

The Korean group believes it is the world's first company to develop high-manganese steel for commercial use.

POSCO won government approval for using high-manganese steel for land-based LNG tanks and applied the material to LNG storage Tank No. 5 at POSCO Energy's LNG import terminal at Kwangyang in Korea’s southern Jeolla province.

The Kwangyang LNG terminal was Korea's first import facility not controlled by state-run Korea Gas Corp. when it opened in 2005 and currently has 530,000 cubic metres of storage.

The International Maritime Organization's Maritime Safety Committee has approved interim guidelines on applying POSCO's high-manganese steel in cryogenic LNG storage and fuel tanks.“This cooperation and commitment to long-term, strategic technology development combines ExxonMobil's expertise in metallurgy application with POSCO's expertise in world-class, high-quality steel manufacturing,” said ExxonMobil URC President Tristan Aspray.

The head of POSCO’s Technical Research Laboratories, Lee Duk-lak, said he was delighted with the cooperation venture.

“Along with steel alloy and its related technologies, we hope POSCO and ExxonMobil advance their work on reducing carbon-dioxide emissions and on other eco-friendly technologies,” said Lee.

POSCO said that this was not the first time that the Korea steel company and trader had teamed up with ExxonMobil on developing new materials.

In 2017, the two sides jointly developed high-manganese steel for pipelines carrying oil sand slurry.

“The energy dual challenge, supplying energy for modern life while minimizing the impact on the environment, is one of the most important issues facing society,” said ExxonMobil RE Vice President Vijay Swarup.