The terminal will have 10 tanks, each 200,000 kiloliters, in Dangjin, south of Seoul, the company said in a statement.

“Under the first phase, the company will build four tanks by 2025, which will be followed by the second phase for the remaining six tanks by 2031,” said Jeon Sang-Cheol, chief of the utility’s facility planning team.

“Exact location of the new terminal inside Dangjin will be finalized by the end of this year, which will be followed by a feasibility study by the finance ministry for budget,” he said, noting detailed schedules have not been decided yet.

With the new terminal, Kogas will have five storage terminals with combined capacity of 13.47 million kiloliters.

In June this year, Kogas started commercial operation of three storage tanks each with a capacity of 270,000 kiloliters in Samcheok on the country’s east coast. Built in July 2014, the Samcheok LNG terminal has nine other tanks each with a capacity of 200,000 kiloliters, which makes its total capacity 2.61 million kiloliters with 12 tanks.

Kogas operates three other LNG terminals. The Pyeongtaek terminal on the west coast built in 1986 has 23 tanks with combined capacity of 3.36 million kiloliters; the Incheon terminal on the northwest built in 1996 has 20 tanks with 2.88 million kiloliters; and the Tongyeong terminal on the south coast built in 2002 has 17 tanks with 2.62 million kiloliters.

Kogas, which has been the world’s single biggest LNG buyer, has expanded its LNG storage capacity to ensure stable supplies for South Korea, the world’s second-biggest LNG importer.

The state monopoly sold 32.77 million mt in 2016, up 4.2% from 31.46 million mt in 2015 on the back of temporary shutdown of some nuclear power reactors following a major earthquake in September.

To meet the stronger demand, Kogas imported a total of 31.847 million mt LNG last year, up 1.4% from 31.41 million mt in 2015 after annual declines for two years in a row.

The new storage terminal plan comes with newly-elected President Moon Jae-In’s push to reduce the country’s heavy reliance on coal and nuclear in electricity generation. The energy plan by Moon who took office in May calls for the country to increase the portion of LNG in power generation to 37% in 2030 from 20% currently.

In line with Moon’s pursuit, the country’s oldest nuclear reactor of Kori-1 was shut down permanently in June, with the construction of two giant reactors temporarily suspended pending a final shutdown decision in October.

Ten state-run coal-fired power plants aged 30 years or older will be permanently shut by early May 2022 when Moon leaves office as part of efforts to reduce air pollution.

The government has been preparing to use more LNG, which is costly but less polluting, for power generation to offset the loss from the shutdown of the coal-fired power plants and the nuclear reactor.

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