POSCO Int'l to expand LNG storage capacity for $810 mn

POSCO International Co. will sharply increase its liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage capacity by spending 1 trillion won ($810 million) to build a new LNG terminal in South Korea.

On Tuesaday, it held a groundbreaking ceremony for its second LNG terminal.

It will be located near the company's existing LNG facility in the national industrial complex in Gwangyang, about 300 kilometers south of Seoul.

Once completed, the trading and energy company will have a combined LNG storaeg capacity of 1.33 million kiloliters from the current 730,000 kiloliters. That will be enough to heat homes in the country for 40 days.

The unit of steel giant POSCO runs five tanks at the existing LNG terminal, which receives, stores and regasify LNG imported from other countries.

Its sixth or last tank for the first terminal is under construction, scheduled for completoin in mid-2024.

The storage tanks had been operated by POSCO Energy, which was merged into the trading company last month.

Built on 348,041-saure-meter land, the second LNG terminal will be composed of six storage tanks each with a capacity of 200,000 kiloliters, the same capacity as that of the fifth and sixth tanks of the first terminal.

POSCO is aiming to build two LNG tanks for the second facility by 2025.

Last week, POSCO unwrapped the first terminal's sixth tank under construction, which is 90.4 meters in diameter and 55.8 meters in height. It has been 53% completed.

Its interior is all maroon since it uses high manganese steel developed by POSCO Group for use in cryogenic application.

The special steel withstands low termperatures below minus 162 degrees Celcius, suitable for maintaiinng LNG in a liquid state.

The expanded storage capacity will make POSCO the largest private LNG terminal operator in the country and the 11th player in the world, the company said.

Write to Seo-Wu Chang at suwu@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article