Work done on Korea’s oil & LNG terminal with transformation into ‘carbon-neutral energy hub’ next on the agenda

Korea Energy Terminal (KET), a joint venture (JV) between Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and SK Gas, has held a completion ceremony for its terminal at the North Port of Ulsan, South Korea.

The ceremony marked the completion of all 12 oil tanks with a total capacity of 1.7 million barrels and two out of three liquefied natural (LNG) tanks with a total capacity of 2.7 million barrels. The remaining LNG tank – Tank 1 with a capacity of 1.35 million barrels of LNG – is expected to be finished in 2026. Once completed, the terminal will be able to store 5.75 million barrels, including 4.05 million barrels of LNG. 

State and local government representatives and industry figures in attendance included Second Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Nam-Ho Choi, Ulsan Mayor Du-Gyeom Kim, and SK Gas CEO Byeong-Seok Yoon.

“The 16-year journey since being selected as a national task in 2008 has borne fruit with the completion of KET,” said KNOC’s President Kim Dong-Seop. “KET will contribute to enhancing energy security and strengthening national industrial competitiveness by expanding intra-regional cargo volume by providing the world’s best terminal service to its customers.”

Alongside expanding its business to include LNG in line with the global energy trends, KET’s plans for the future include creating additional logistics hubs for eco-friendly energy such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen, and ammonia in the remaining Ulsan North Port site and Ulsan South Port.

The aim is to establish Ulsan as “a carbon-neutral energy hub” able to support the government’s low-carbon and eco-friendly energy policy and turn Korea into Northeast Asia’s hub for energy logistics and financial transactions capable of competing with the ports in the Netherlands and Singapore. 

The Northeast Asia oil hub project, which started as a national project in 2008, promoted the construction of facilities in Yeosu and Ulsan ports, with the Yeosu oil storage facility completed in 2013. In the meantime, KNOC and SK Gas formed a JV in 2019, rebranding the project as the Northeast Asia energy hub to include LNG.

The first naphtha shipment reached Ulsan North Port in April 2024. The completion ceremony for “Korea’s first Oil & LNG combined terminal” was held to mark the occasion. According to KNOC, global companies such as TotalEnergies and Aramco are clients of the KET oil terminal. The LNG terminal is also said to have garnered interest from Korean companies such as Ulsan GPS, SK Energy, Korea Zinc, and SK Multi-Utility, providing a stable supply route for raw materials and fuel required for power generation. 

An investment memorandum of understanding (MoU) with five companies to create a hydrogen industry cluster in Yeosu was signed in April 2024. The Northeast Asia LNG Hub Terminal is set to build a new LNG import terminal and supply facility to regasify the LNG and provide it to demanding companies.

Last week, Ulsan Port was home to a groundbreaking ceremony for the semi-submersible floating production unit (FPU) – called Trion – HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) is building for Woodside. The vessel is set to work on the Trion project, hailed as the first oil production from Mexico’s deepwater.