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State-owned Kogas sold 2.67 million mt last month, compared to 2.62 million mt in April 2025, the firm said in a stock exchange filing.
April sales were 24.9 percent lower compared to the previous month’s 3.55 million mt, which marked an increase of 5 percent on the year.
Purchases by power firms rose 6.4 percent year-on-year to 1.24 million mt in April and were 17.2 percent lower compared to the previous month.
Moreover, Kogas said its city gas sales dropped 2.6 percent year-on-year to 1.38 million mt last month. City gas sales were 31.2 percent lower compared to the previous month.
Kogas said in its results report this week that it sold 12.23 million mt in the first quarter of 2026.
This is up by 3 percent compared to the three-month period in 2025.
Kogas said its city gas sales decreased by 2 percent year-on-year to 7.29 million mt, while purchases by power firms rose 11.3 percent to 4.92 million mt.
According to Kogas, there was a decline in heating demand due to higher average temperatures in the first quarter compared to the previous year.
Also, Kogas said there was a decrease in industrial demand caused by delayed recovery in the manufacturing sector.
Kogas noted there was an increase in LNG power generation due to lower baseload generation (resulting from increased nuclear power plant maintenance schedules) and reduced direct imports.
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 it expects to launch the first phase of this facility in May next year.
There is currently no official data available on Korean LNG imports for April.
Customs data shows that South Korean LNG terminals received 12.67 million mt of LNG in the first three months of this year, a rise compared to 11.98 million mt in the same period last year.
Australia was the biggest supplier to South Korea in January-March, with 3.46 million mt of LNG, followed by Malaysia with 2.10 million mt, and Qatar with 1.60 million mt.
South Korea has been affected by the Middle East crisis as it buys oil and LNG from the region.
QatarEnergy announced that it expects the damage to its Ras Laffan complex caused by missile strikes to cost about $20 billion a year in lost revenue and to take up to five years to repair, impacting supply to markets in Europe and Asia.
The state-owned firm stopped producing LNG at its giant Ras Laffan complex on March 2 due to military attacks on its operating facilities. It declared force majeure to its affected LNG buyers on March 4.