Posco investing 750 billion won in two LNG storage tanks

Posco Energy's Gwangyang liquefied natural gas terminal in South Jeolla [POSCO]

Posco is spending 750 billion won ($630 million) to build two liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanks in Gwangyang, South Jeolla, the company said Tuesday.

Those will be the seventh and eighth storage tanks that will be placed at the company's Gwangyang LNG Terminal.

NEH, a joint venture between Posco and Posco Energy, signed the agreement with the South Jeolla Provincial Government Tuesday, with Posco Vice Chairman Kim Hak-dong and South Jeolla Gov. Kim Yung-rok attending.

The two LNG tanks will have the storage capacity of 200,000 kiloliters (53 million gallons) each. The construction will start in the first half of the year, with the goal of completing the units in the second half of 2025.

The Gwangyang LNG Terminal, which was built in 2005, is the country's first private LNG terminal. Posco Energy currently runs five LNG storage tanks, which have a total capacity of 730,000 kiloliters.

It is also building the sixth unit, which will have 200,000-kiloliter of storage capacity, and the construction is likely to end in 2024.

The additional two storage tanks will bring the total capacity to 1.3 million kiloliters, it said.

An estimated 600 workers will be newly employed for the project, according to Posco.

Posco also added that the additional tanks will help the company to "expand the use of clean fuel and be prepared for the rising demand of LNG."

"The investment was made upon our strategic decision that we'd like to foster the terminal business as our new future growth engine," Posco Vice Chairman Kim said. "We will try our best to make the Gwangyang LNG Terminal as a pillar of future development of South Jeolla."

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]