POSCO International Corp., the trading arm of South Korea’s steel giant POSCO Holdings Co., is expanding storage capacity at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal as part of its efforts to support households lower heating costs.

POSCO International plans to complete the ongoing expansion work for Tank 6 by June 2024 in Gwangyang, about 400 kilometers southwest of Seoul, to increase its storage capacity to 930,000 kiloliters. When the construction is completed, the terminal can store up to 2.13 million kiloliters of LNG. It also plans to invest 930 billion won ($755 million) to add capacity for Tank 7 and 8 by 2025.

As of 2021, Gwangyang Terminal handled 3.4 million tons of LNG. The terminal is responsible for 7.4 percent of Korea’s LNG imports.

The expansion will help Korea secure and store more LNG, which means a reduced impact on its local supply chain amid price volatility in the international market.

To store LNG, the temperature inside the tank must be maintained at minus 162 degrees Celsius. To this end, the walls of Tank 6 are covered with high manganese steel and insulation. The high manganese steel developed by POSCO has the same performance as products containing 90 percent of nickel, according to POSCO International.

POSCO International is also active in wind power generation. The company’s recent merger with POSCO Energy Co. aims to expand its business portfolio into renewable and green energy sectors.

The company plans to build a 300-megawatt offshore wind farm in Shinan County, South Jeolla Province. POSCO International is operating a 62.7MW onshore wind farm in the county.

By Seong Seung-hoon and Minu Kim

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