South Korea, the world’s number three LNG buyer behind China and Japan, imported a record 45.45mn tons for 2021, up 13% on 2020’s subdued volumes and some 1.15mn tons above the previous annual record of 44.3mn tons set in 2018.

Back in 2018, Qatar was South Korea’s dominant supplier with a 32% market share. This fell below 23% for 2020 as Australia challenged Qatar for top spot (MEES, 15 January 2021). But whilst Australia has now comfortably overtaken Qatar as the world’s overall top LNG exporter (MEES, 14 January), last year saw Qatar mount a comeback in the Korean market. (CONTINUED - 843 WORDS)