By Rhod Mackenzie
There are new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and gas storage facilities under construction all across Asia. The lessons learnt by the unpleasant experience of 2022, when the price of a million British thermal units (MBTU) of liquefied gas rose to a record $70 ($2,450 per thousand cubic meters) in August, the Asian states decided to thoroughly prepare for the coming winter and, following the example of Europe, first of all, stock up on “blue fuel”.
The situation in the gas markets is still conducive to the creation of gas reserves. The price for it has now collapsed to $10 per MBTU. Japan, the world's largest LNG importer, and India recently announced that they intend to create strategic gas reserves. Japanese Minister of Economy Yasutoshi Nishimura announced the creation this year to deal with unforeseen situations of a reserve system of liquefied gas in the likeness of the Strategic Oil Reserve in the Land of the Rising Sun, by the way, one of the largest in the world. Now the Ministry of Economy carefully selects contractors, companies that will purchase and store gas. The pace of creating a gas reserve has also been determined - at least one gas carrier capable of transporting up to 70 thousand tons of LNG per month. In the event of a crisis, as last year,
The head of India's Oil and Gas Authority, the regulator of the oil and gas sector, also spoke of the need to create sufficient gas reserves to fill up when markets are low. New Delhi is now exploring different ways to create a gas reserve. First of all, according to Indian Oil Minister Pankaj Jain, it will obviously be used for underground gas storages and abandoned oil wells. The ministry has already selected contractors who will be tasked with stockpiling.
In March last year, Beijing set a goal of more than doubling its gas storage capacity to 55-60 m³, or 13% of China's gas consumption, by 2025. In early July, according to Global Times, Chinese energy giant CNOOC completed construction of a storage facility for 10 billion cubic meters of gas in Guangdong province.
South Korea and Taiwan, the world's third and fourth LNG importers respectively, are building new LNG receiving terminals and storage facilities. Taiwanese energy company CPC Corp now has gas in storage that will last the island for about 11 days, but by 2027 it has been decided to increase this figure to at least 14 days by 2027, the Taiwan Ministry of Economics said in a statement.
By the summer of 2025, Taipei hopes to complete the construction of a third LNG terminal in the Taoyuan area. A fourth terminal is planned to be built near Jilong. The construction project is already ready, now its ecological expertise is being carried out.
In South Korea, meanwhile, the construction of the sixth gas storage facility in the area of the western port of Dangjin is in full swing. There will be enough gas in Korean storage facilities for 9 days.
This article originally appeared in Russian at expert.ru