South Korea to Fund Kuwait LNG Project
Korea Export-Import Bank and Korea Trade Insurance Corporation will together provide a total of $2.3bn to Kuwait for construction of its first land-based LNG terminal, Korea Export-Import Bank said May 20. The two entities will provide $1.15bn each for the project.
Kuwait is looking to borrow over $3.3bn from local and global banks to fund its onshore LNG project in the Al-Zour region. The Al-Zour LNG import terminal project includes the construction of a regasification facility, eight LNG storage tanks, and civil works for coastal facilities at Al-Zour, 90 kilometers south of Kuwait City. It will have capacity to import 22mn metric tons of LNG a year (30bn m3/yr). A South Korean consortium of Hyundai Engineering Company, Hyundai E&C and Kogas will be constructing the terminal.
State-owned Kuwait Integrated Petrochemical Industries Company (Kipic), a unit of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) that is overseeing the LNG terminal's development, said in a March 2018 update that it was "ahead of schedule, with a progress rate of 30.31%, against planned progress of 29.35%" and therefore "likely to be completed by December 2020 with a commissioning period of seven months from July 2020 to February 2021."
Kuwait presently imports LNG via the 500mn ft3/d (5.2bn m3/yr) Excelerate-operated floating unit Mina Al-Ahmadi GasPort.