The International Projects Group of Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) and Koninklijke Vopak NV subsidiary Vopak Asia Pte. Ltd. (Vopak) have signed an agreement aimed at construction of one or more LNG receiving terminals in Asia.
“Still to be studied is the form such an independent receiving terminal should take, where in Asia it should be located, and which parties in the market would use the terminal for supplying and/or purchasing gas,” Vopak said in a statement.
It said that the pace of energy demand growth in Asia has prompted a number of studies of LNG imports and that guaranteed long-term throughput is an important condition for investment.
Kogas owns and operates three world-scale LNG receiving terminals in South Korea as well as a 2,451-km gas pipeline. In 2004, Kogas handled a total of 22 million tonnes of LNG, involving 371 ship discharges.
“This cooperation with Vopak fits well within Kogas’s strategy to expand its LNG terminal business overseas,” said Kwang Jin Kim, Kogas senior vice-president.
Vopak’s expertise is mainly development, construction, and management of terminals for the storage and handling of chemical and oil products.
The Rotterdam-based firm, which works in 29 countries and has 72 terminals, is boosting its activity in Asia amid surging demand for oil and gas from countries like China.
Through joint ventures, Vopak operates a network of five storage terminals in China. But the Dutch firm has recently entered contracts to construct and operate its first wholly owned terminal in the country.
In June, Vopak reached agreement with authorities of Zhangzijagang in Jiangsu Province, China, on the long-term lease of 48 hectares of land to build a chemicals terminal.
In the first phase, the terminal will have a storage capacity of about 200,000 cu m and will begin operation in 2008.
Zhangzijagang is on the southern banks of the Yangtze River, about 140 km northwest of Shanghai, in the Yangtze River Delta area. ✦
