When we take off or land at Incheon International Airport, there is a large facility near Songdo International City in Incheon.

It looks like a military bunker. As an airplane increases altitude, the facility gets smaller and smaller, making it look like a group of crocks in order.

It does not show up on the map. Then what is that? The question was recently answered. The facility was the Incheon LNG Base of Korea Gas Corporation, which stores and produces liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The Incheon LNG Base is a nationally important facility, so it does not show up on maps. Photography and video recording are also restricted, and visitors must register their personal information in advance to enter. The gas company temporarily opened the gates of the Incheon base to journalists from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on June 27. Gazprom, which supplies gas not only to city gas but also to power plants and industrial complexes, has five LNG bases in Korea: Pyeongtaek, Incheon, Tongyeong, Samcheok and Jeju Island. The Incheon base started its first commercial operation in October 1996. Most of the gas supplied to the western part of the metropolitan area, including Incheon and Seoul, is vaporized (produced) at the Incheon base. Last year, it produced 1.274 million tons of gas, accounting for 33.2 percent of Korea's gas production.

The Incheon base has one of the largest facilities in Korea and the world. It has 23 tanks with a total storage capacity of 1.556 million tons (3.48 million cubic meters). It can produce 6,270 tons per hour, which is determined by demand. On January 8, 2021, the highest demand day ever, it produced 94,000 t in a single day. Korea is the world's second largest consumer of LNG after Japan. Unlike the U.S. and Europe, it does not use LNG, which is transported as a liquid, but mostly natural gas (PNG), which is transported through pipes.

The key role of the base is to store LNG brought in by ship from overseas, turn it into gas as needed, and supply it to the main pipeline. The gas itself has no odor, so it is the base's job to add an odor that is commonly known as the "gas smell.” Incheon has two berthing piers. Pier 1 is for 75,000 tons and Pier 2 is for 127,000 tons of LNG carriers. On a typical summer day, one ship a day, and two to three ships a day during the winter months when gas demand is high, travel to and from the Incheon base.

In the afternoon, unloading was underway at Pier 2. An LNG carrier, the SM Eagle, was unloading shale gas from Sabine Pass in the southern U.S. state of Louisiana. "If you come through the Panama Canal, you can reach Korea in 30 days, but the Panama Canal has been closed recently, limiting the number of times you can use it," said Ko Hyung-tak, captain of the SM Eagle. "This time, we came to the Atlantic side, but it took 42 days because we went through the Cape of Good Hope instead of the Suez Canal due to geopolitical risks in the Middle East.“

It was a sweltering day with temperatures in the high 30s, but the minus-160-degree LNG transfer facility (Arm) was a white castle, covered in ice. The wind blew the ice chunks away, but new ones quickly enveloped the arm. The flying ice chunks shattered in mid-air and swirled around like snow.

Stability is paramount in the operation of the Incheon base, which is responsible for 33 percent of Korea's gas supply and 65 percent in the Seoul metropolitan area alone. The company says it is prepared for any breakdowns, accidents, or threats as much as possible. "Gas supply should not be interrupted under any circumstances, so both tanks and power facilities are divided so that they can back up each other," said Kim Young-gil, head of the Incheon base, adding, "To counter drone threats, in December 2021, we installed a system to neutralize drones with jamming."