Regional LNG: Kepco gets approval to directly import LNG

Korea Electric Power Corp.'s (Kepco) units won government approval to import liquefied natural gas starting in 2008, increasing competition for Korea Gas Corp., the world's largest buyer of the fuel, Bloomberg reported.

The government last week gave permission for Korea Midland Power Co. and three other units of Korea Electric to buy LNG from abroad, without specifying how much of the fuel the companies can import, Lee Jung Kyoon, a manager and fuel buyer at Korea Midland, said on Nov. 12.

Korea Electric's units, which buy a third of LNG imported by Korea Gas, want to import gas to help cut a fuel bill that rose to $4.1 billion last year. Korea Gas's monopoly ended when companies such as SK Corp. were allowed in July to buy LNG directly from producers including Qatar, Malaysia and Indonesia.

"We may win whole or part of contracts we want," Lee said in an interview in Seoul. "We may lose out to Korea Gas. It all depends on the terms we strike with potential suppliers, with price being the most important factor." (*)