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South Korea buys liquefied natural gas (LNG) mainly through Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS), but other companies also import it. There is no single Korean authority that sets one import price: buyers and sellers negotiate contracts that may be linked to JKM, Brent crude or Henry Hub. KOGAS then allocates gas costs to power plants and other customers under domestic tariff arrangements, so an import benchmark is not the same thing as a household or electricity bill.
Who buys LNG for South Korea?
KOGAS is the central buyer and supplier in South Korea’s gas system, but it is not the only importer. Yonhap News Agency reported that KOGAS accounted for 78.8% of South Korea’s LNG imports in 2023. That is a dated share for that year, not a current market-share figure. The same report described KOGAS using both forward contracts and spot purchases; POSCO International has also participated in short-term procurement.
The government has described contract renewal and diversification as ways to meet domestic demand and improve price stability. In a May 2, 2024 release, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy discussed pursuing new long- and short-term contracts. The U.S. International Trade Administration’s 2025 market overview reported long-term deals with Trafigura, TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy totaling 4.3 million tons. The overview does not establish that figure as a current annual import rate, so it should not be read as one.
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KOGAS also has LNG-related resource investments. Its project page reported eight LNG-related projects within a portfolio of 18 projects in 11 countries at the end of December 2024. Those investments are distinct from the terms and prices of the LNG purchase contracts through which gas is imported.
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How are LNG import prices determined?
Import prices are negotiated between buyers and sellers under individual contracts; there is no single government-set Korean LNG import price. A contract can refer to a global benchmark, but the benchmark alone does not determine the effective price. Contract duration, delivery timing, volume flexibility and other negotiated terms also matter.
| Procurement arrangement or pricing reference | What the evidence establishes | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Long-term or forward contracts | KOGAS uses forward procurement, and South Korea has pursued new long-term deals. Yonhap News Agency reported this for KOGAS; the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy discussed new contracts on May 2, 2024. | A single current portfolio price or a complete list of contract formulas is not stated in those sources. |
| Spot or short-term purchases | KOGAS uses spot procurement, and POSCO International has participated in short-term procurement, according to Yonhap News Agency. | A representative Korean spot price or a universal discount is not stated. |
| JKM-linked deals | S&P Global reported that Korean short-term contracts for 2025–2027 were linked to JKM. It also reported selected contract discounts of about US$0.20–US$0.50 per MMBtu below the full-month JKM average. | Those discounts describe selected reported deals, not every Korean contract or a standard discount. |
| Brent- or Henry Hub-referenced tenders | S&P Global described tender mechanisms referencing ICE Brent and Henry Hub, as well as JKM. | The source does not disclose the full formula and effective price for every active contract. |
JKM is a benchmark for LNG delivered in the Asia-Pacific market. A JKM-linked price can move with the benchmark, while an oil-linked or Henry Hub-linked formula follows a different reference. The contract’s index and its other terms together shape what the buyer pays. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s December 2025 report also discusses Korean JKM-linked short-term awards and the relevance of flexibility to discounts, but it does not disclose every active contract’s complete formula.
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Does KOGAS set the price consumers pay?
KOGAS explains that its domestic gas tariffs allocate costs through different arrangements. For power plants, the distinction between the Individual Gas Tariff (IGT) and Average Gas Tariff (AGT) affects how the LNG purchase agreements (SPAs) are reflected in the gas price.
Individual Gas Tariff (IGT)
Under IGT, a specific LNG sale and purchase agreement is matched directly to a power plant. KOGAS says new power plants seeking gas supply since January 2022 can apply for IGT. It is not a tariff that has replaced AGT for every customer: plants that remain under valid AGT contracts continue under those contracts for their contract period.
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Average Gas Tariff (AGT)
Under AGT, the price averages valid SPAs across consumers. KOGAS describes this as applying an average price from valid agreements to consumers, including power plants and city-gas consumers. The difference is the allocation method: IGT ties a plant to a particular agreement, while AGT averages eligible agreements across the relevant consumers.
City-gas tariff adjustments
A Korean Exchange filing describes raw-material cost adjustments for city gas as tied to oil and exchange-rate changes, with different adjustment cycles for household, commercial and gas-fired-power categories. That means a domestic city-gas tariff is not simply a daily copy of JKM. The filing explains the mechanism it describes; exact current adjustments should be checked against current tariff notices.
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How to interpret published LNG price figures
Figures described as an import price, contract price or spot price can measure different things. For example, EG-TIPS, citing the Korea Energy Economics Institute and the April 2025 Energy Statistics Monthly, reported a preliminary 2024 annual LNG import unit price of US$632 per ton. This is a retrospective national aggregate, not a current spot-market quote or the price of a particular cargo.
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- Annual import unit price: a national aggregate for imports over a stated period, such as the preliminary 2024 figure above.
- Contract price: the negotiated price for gas under a particular agreement, shaped by its benchmark and terms.
- Spot quote: a market price for a particular time and delivery context; it does not describe all contracted supply.
Do not compare these figures as if they were interchangeable. A per-ton annual average and a per-MMBtu contract discount refer to different units and different measurements.
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What this means for Korean electricity and city-gas users
Global LNG prices can affect the cost of imported gas, but the path to an end user’s bill runs through contracts and domestic tariff rules. A benchmark move does not automatically translate into an equal, same-day change in a household gas tariff or power plant’s gas cost. For power plants, whether IGT or AGT applies affects how LNG procurement costs are allocated; city-gas adjustments have their own described links and cycles.
The exact prices and full terms of all active Korean SPAs are not publicly established by the cited sources. As a result, no single quoted import figure can stand in for the whole Korean portfolio or directly predict what an individual consumer will pay.
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