Seoul: South Korea will additionally buy 3.3 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States every year for a decade starting in 2028, the Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) announced. This move is part of the countries' efforts to expand cooperation across key sectors, including energy.
According to Yonhap News Agency, KOGAS signed the purchase deal with global energy suppliers like Trafigura during a business leaders' roundtable in Washington. This event followed a summit between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump. The LNG will be supplied from projects operated by global energy firm Cheniere in Texas and other locations.
The agreement aligns with Seoul's recent pledge to purchase $100 billion worth of American energy products over the next four years, in exchange for a reduction in U.S. tariffs on South Korean goods to 15 percent from the proposed 25 percent. KOGAS mentioned that the contract resulted from a bidding process initiated last year to determine Korea's energy imports beyond 2028.
The new contract is set to aid KOGAS in diversifying its import sources, which were predominantly from the Middle East. The company noted that it had previously imported 4.92 million tons of gas annually from Qatar, a contract that expired last year. Another agreement for 2.1 million tons of gas annually is set to conclude in 2026.
KOGAS CEO Choi Yeon-hye remarked, "With the new contract, our multifaceted efforts to diversify import sources for LNG supply stability and enhance price competitiveness of natural gas have borne fruit."