한화그룹 본사 전경. (사진=연합뉴스)

 

[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] Hanwha Group is pushing for a project to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe, where gas supply for heating is unstable.

To this end, it plans to build a LNG terminal in Europe by 2026. It is determined to expand Hanwha's LNG business stage by taking advantage of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, which has the world's best LNG carriers and offshore plant construction capabilities.

According to related industries on the 1st, Hanwha's European LNG project came from the stage of reviewing the acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. After the merger between HD Hyundai and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering failed early last year, the government proposed the acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering to several large companies, including Hanwha.

At that time, Hanwha was trying to strengthen its defense competitiveness centered on Hanwha Aerospace. For this reason, they were only interested in the special ship division in charge of military projects rather than the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering itself.

Since then, Hanwha has held strategic meetings with major executives over whether to take over Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. as a whole, judging that it is almost impossible to divide and acquire the special ship division. Various measures were drawn up at a meeting chaired by Hanwha Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan. Judging that synergy was sufficient, Hanwha immediately formed a TF and started to take over Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. One of the measures that came out at this time is the European LNG project.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, Europe increased imports of U.S. LNGs to reduce its dependence on Russian natural gas. According to the EU, EU LNG imports jumped 89% from January to November last year. American LNG accounted for more than 40% of total imports. The EU's imports of LNG from the United States were 52 billion ㎥, 2.5 times higher than the previous year's imports of 22 billion ㎥.

 

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