A pure gasoline pipeline on the Port of Seward in Alaska transports liquefied pure gasoline via a 1,287-kilometer pipeline stretching from the northern area of North Slope to Nikiski on the southern coast. gettyimagesbank
Korea’s potential participation in a pure gasoline improvement venture in Alaska, highlighted in U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress on Tuesday, has come to the fore, impacting the nation’s economic system and prompting related sectors and corporations to evaluate the potential advantages and challenges of becoming a member of the initiative.
Trump mentioned Korea, Japan and different nations are searching for to put money into the large pure gasoline pipeline venture.
Sooner or later after his handle, the Korean inventory market responded positively to the promising prospects for Korean vitality corporations‘ enterprise into Alaska, with main vitality improvement firms and people manufacturing pipes and valves seeing their share costs surge.
SeAH Metal’s inventory rose 9.57 p.c from the day past, reaching 198,000 gained ($149.98). Its holding firms, SeAH Holdings and SeAH Metal Holdings, additionally noticed their share costs enhance by 6.51 p.c. Dongyang Metal Pipe gained 14.49 p.c within the inventory market, whereas HS Valve rose by 4.57 p.c on the Kosdaq.
In keeping with the Alaska Gasline Improvement Corp. (AGDC), an impartial public firm established in 2010, the state’s North Slope pure gasoline reserve holds one of many world’s largest concentrations, with about 35 trillion cubic toes of sources and the potential for a further 200 trillion cubic toes.
The state operates a gasoline pipeline stretching greater than 1,280 kilometers from north to south, together with a gasoline therapy plant able to processing 3.9 billion cubic toes per day. Alaska additionally exports as much as 20 million tons of liquefied pure gasoline yearly.
Korea Gasoline Corp.’s liquefied pure gasoline storage web site in Incheon’s Songdo in July 2024 / Courtesy of KOGAS.
In keeping with the corporate, Alaska has been supplying LNG to Asian nations for greater than 45 years. It touts the state’s proximity to the continent, which permits a shorter maritime cargo journey of seven to 9 days.
“Alaska has earned a repute of reliability and dependability,” AGDC says on its web site, highlighting the state’s considerable LNG reserve and geographic closeness to Asia.
Regardless of Alaska’s potential as an LNG provide hub for Asia and Trump’s declare of Korea’s curiosity in it, Korean LNG importers and different vitality builders stay cautious about investing in Alaska. Some even categorical doubts relating to the venture’s profitability.
An official from SK Innovation mentioned that if the venture was as profitable as Trump says, a significant vitality developer from Korea would have already entered.
„I consider that Trump, whereas utilizing his tariff threats towards numerous nations, is searching for buyers for the venture who will reluctantly comply,“ the official mentioned.
An official from POSCO Worldwide mentioned that key elements, corresponding to worth charges and import volumes, should first be confirmed as possible earlier than the corporate decides to put money into the venture.
“Trump is outwardly signaling that he’s in search of buyers for the Alaskan LNG venture. Though it will diversify Korea’s LNG import areas internationally, whether or not to put money into the venture ought to be decided solely in any case the important thing elements are thought-about,“ the official mentioned.
„That is form of just like the Daewang Gorae venture,” he added, referring to the primary drill web site for the Korean vitality ministry’s ongoing pure gasoline and crude oil improvement venture within the nation’s East Sea, which was found final month to be removed from economically viable.
If the Korean authorities decides to put money into the Alaskan LNG venture, the most important piece of the pie is anticipated to go to Korea Gasoline Corp. (KOGAS), which imports about 80 p.c of Korea’s whole pure gasoline provide of 46 million tons per 12 months.
KOGAS plans to rigorously evaluate the Alaska gasoline improvement venture in its early levels, specializing in its enterprise viability.
„Importing LNG from Alaska definitely helps us by additional diversifying our world vitality provide sources. If we agree with the U.S. to import LNG in a big quantity for an reasonably priced worth, Alaska can be a possible addition to our provide chain,“ a KOGAS official mentioned.
In keeping with Minister of Commerce, Business and Power Ahn Duk-geun, Korea’s whole quantity of imported LNG from the USA since 2017 has been the world’s largest. Final 12 months, Korea’s largest LNG import got here from Australia, accounting for twenty-four.6 p.c of whole imports, adopted by Qatar at 19.2 p.c, Malaysia at 13.2 p.c, and the U.S. at 12.2 p.c.
