Posco, SK Corp. to close LNG bid by March 26: Report

Posco and SK Corp. are seeking bids by March 26 from liquefied natural gas producers for as much as 1.1 million tons of annual supply, a Posco official was quoted by Bloomberg Wednesday as saying.

Posco, the world's second-largest steelmaker, and SK, the nation's top oil refiner, will then pick a preferred supplier and negotiate terms such as price and volume, Posco spokesman Oh Dong Ho said, declining to elaborate.

Posco and SK are building terminals to become the first Korean companies other than Korea Gas Corp. to receive LNG from abroad and return it to gas form. Posco is spending about $290 million building its terminal.

Posco and SK, which invited 10 suppliers to bid including from Indonesia, will hold a presentation on their LNG needs today, Oh said. Posco is planning to buy about 500,000 tons of gas a year, while SK wants as much as 600,000 tons a year, Oh said.

Korea's demand for liquefied natural gas this year will probably rise 13 percent to 18.3 million tons and exceed the 17 million tons that Korea Gas, the nation's gas distributing monopoly, secures every year through multiyear contracts, according to the government.(*)