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State-owned Kogas sold 2.13 million mt last month, down 0.2 percent from 2.14 million mt in September 2023, the firm said in a stock exchange filing.
September sales dropped 16.7 percent compared to the previous month’s 2.56 million mt, which marked a rise for the fourth month in a row.
In July, LNG sales increased 6.9 percent to 2.44 million mt, June LNG sales rose 8.7 percent to 2.28 million mt, May LNG sales increased 6 percent to 2.27 million mt, and April sales dropped 7.5 percent to 2.3 million mt. March sales rose 10.9 percent to 3.48 million mt, marking the first monthly increase since August last year.
Purchases by power firms rose 2.6 percent year-on-year to 1.28 million mt in September, but they dropped 22 percent compared to the previous month.
Moreover, Kogas said its city gas sales decreased 4.2 percent year-on-year to 0.85 million mt, and were down 7.2 percent from the previous month.
Kogas said in its second-quarter earnings report in August that city gas demand rose 4.7 percent during the period.
Residential demand increased due to a lower average temperature and economic recovery, and industrial demand rose due to strong exports which improved manufacturing demand, it said.
Kogas noted total power generation decreased by 7.7 percent in the second quarter due to higher power generation by direct LNG sourcing companies.
Korean LNG imports
Kogas operates 77 LNG storage tanks at five LNG import terminals in South Korea.
The large terminals include Incheon, Pyeongtaek, Tongyeong, and Samcheok, while the firm has a small-scale regasification terminal at the Aewol port on Jeju island as well.
In addition to these facilities, the firm is building a large terminal in the western port city of Dangjin and expects to launch the first phase in 2025.
In August, Kogas completed lifting the roofs on all four 270,000-cbm tanks at its Dangjin LNG import facility.
Official data for South Korean LNG imports in September of this year has not yet been released.
According to customs data, during January-August, South Korean LNG terminals took 30.34 million mt, a rise from 29.11 million mt in the same period last year.
Australia was the biggest supplier during the period with 7.38 million mt of LNG, and the country was followed by Malaysia with 3.57 million mt and Oman with 2.97 million mt, the data shows.
South Korean LNG imports in August rose to 3.85 million mt compared to 3.4 million mt in August 2023.
LNG imports in July rose to 3.04 million mt from 2.61 million mt in July 2023, while LNG imports in June rose to 3.07 million mt from 2.93 million mt in June 2023, and May LNG imports rose to 3.58 million mt from 3.10 million mt in May 2023, the data shows.