Korea Gas Corp. (036460.SE) is seeking to participate in a project to build a 2,000-kilometer natural gas pipeline connecting Sakhalin and Vladivostok, an official at Kogas said Monday.
"We are still in talks with Russia. We haven't reached an agreement on this yet," said the official, who declined to be named. "We could participate by forming a consortium with local construction firms or by ourselves."
The project is part of the agreement reached between Kogas and Russia's state-controlled gas firm OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) in September last year. Under the memorandum of understanding the two sides signed, Kogas will annually import 10 billion cubic meters of gas, or about 7.5 million metric tons if converted to liquefied natural gas, for 30 years from 2015.
At that time, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said South Korea will seek to construct a gas pipeline connecting Vladivostok and South Korea via North Korea from 2011 to 2014 after a two-year feasibility study.
If the pipeline natural gas import plan isn't realized, South Korea will review a plan to import the same amount of natural gas as LNG or compressed natural gas form from Vladivostok, the ministry said at that time.
"If North Korea disagrees with the pipeline construction, then we will likely opt to import in the form of LNG," the Kogas official said.