Shale Gas from US
US shale gas will be imported to Korea for the first time next month.
KOGAS, holding a ceremony in honor of receiving LNG at Sabine Pass LNG Terminal in Louisiana on June 25 (local time), announced that the state-run energy company will introduce 2.8 million tons of American shale gas per year for 20 years from next month.
KOGAS secured US shale gas for the first time in Asia by signing a long-term LNG contract with Savine Pass, a wholly-owned subsidiary of US-based Cheniere Energy in 2012. According to the contract, the first import will arrive at KOGAS’s Tongyeong Terminal in July.
KOGAS expects the US shale gas to diversify its import lines lopsided toward the Middle East, helping to resolve trade imbalance between Korea and the United States and promote cooperation between the two nations.
A lot of attention is being to whether or not Korea and the US will reach an additional deal on US shale gas as the Donald Trump administration will continue to make an issue out of America’s trade deficit with Korea. In this connection, it is said that a possibility of striking an additional deal with the US is expanding as the Korean government announced that it would cut trade surplus with the United States by expanding imports of raw materials such as US shale gas from the US in January, and Lee Seung-hoon, president of KOGAS will accompany President Moon Jae-in’s official visit to the US.