South Korea’s 2018 LNG imports hit record 44 million tonnes

South Korea, the world’s third buyer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), received a record 44 million tonnes of the chilled fuel in 2018.

Compared to the previous year, LNG imports rose 17.3 percent, according to the customs data.

Qatar, the world’s top LNG producer, remained the dominant source of South Korean imports with 14.25 million tonnes of the chilled fuel imported from Qatar last year, a rise of 23.3 percent.

Australia was the second-largest LNG supplier to Korea in 2018 with 7.87 million tonnes, followed by the USA with 4.66 million tonnes and Oman that supplied 4.29 million tonnes.

The remaining volumes imported into South Korea last year were sourced from Malaysia, Indonesia, Peru, Brunei, Nigeria, France, Angola, Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, Papua New Guinea, the Netherlands, Singapore, Equatorial Guinea, Spain, Norway, Japan, the UK, and Brazil.

The customs data also shows that South Korea paid an average of $10.15 per million British thermal units for LNG last year. This compares to $8.02 per mmBtu in 2017.

LNG World News Staff