Under the 20-year sales and purchase agreement (SPA), Cheniere is supplying the US-sourced LNG to KOGAS from the Sabine Pass Liquefaction facility in Louisiana.
Both firms have signed the SPA in January 2012, while it has been officially came into force in this month with the first cargo loading.
As per terms of the deal, Cheniere will distribute around .5 million tonnes of LNG per year, representing more than 10% of South Korea's total annual demand.
Cheniere president and CEO Jack Fusco said: "KOGAS is an ideal commercial partner as one of the largest buyers of LNG in the world and serves South Korea, an important economic and national ally of the US.
"This is just the beginning of a long and productive relationship that will be beneficial to both companies and both countries, and we hope to continue to grow this relationship between KOGAS and Cheniere.”
KOGAS president and CEO Seung-Hoon Lee said "This long-term LNG SPA with Cheniere Energy will contribute significantly to improving the trade balance between the United States and Korea.”
In 1983, Korean government established KOGAS to develop, produce and distribute LNG.
KOGAS operates four LNG terminals with the current storage capacity of 4.84 million tons in 69 storage tanks, as well as pipeline network with around 4,672km.
Recently, KOGAS, Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning and ExxonMobi have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to carry out research and develop natural gas technologies and new energy technologies.
The agreement will focus on the natural gas value chain, including cryogenic materials, hydrogen production and fuel cell utilization, energy efficiency technologies and technologies associated with robotics and automation.
