POSCO Inter, Final Approval for Merger with POSCO Energy

Approved at the Extraordinary General Meeting... New Start for Next Year's Merger
Transformation into a Global Eco-Friendly Energy Specialist Company

Joo Si-bo, President of POSCO International (left), is explaining the energy business investment plan to shareholders at the POSCO International extraordinary general meeting on the 4th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] POSCO International is making bold investments to transform into a global eco-friendly energy specialist.

On the 4th, POSCO International held an extraordinary general meeting at its headquarters in Songdo and officially approved the merger with POSCO Energy. The two companies will officially merge and launch anew on January 1 of next year.

With this, POSCO International will achieve annual sales of 40 trillion KRW and operating profit exceeding 1 trillion KRW, becoming a genuine energy specialist company based on trading.

At the general meeting, President Ju Si-bo announced the energy business growth strategy along with a large-scale investment plan. Starting from the merger year 2023, the company plans to invest a total of 3.8 trillion KRW over three years according to growth strategies in each sector: E&P, LNG infrastructure, power generation, and eco-friendly energy.

First, in the exploration and production sector, 1.3 trillion KRW will be invested to accelerate resource development. Through its subsidiary Senex Energy, the company aims to triple natural gas production in Australia by 2025, and in 2023, it will also enter the Indonesian exploration rights market to continuously expand production bases.

In the storage sector, a total of 1.6 trillion KRW will be invested to expand LNG infrastructure. The existing storage tanks with a capacity of 730,000 kl at Gwangyang and Dangjin terminals will be expanded over three years. By 2026, the company plans to secure 4.65 million tons of LNG trading volume and a total storage capacity infrastructure of 1.81 million kl domestically.

In the power generation sector, 700 billion KRW will be invested focusing on eco-friendly transitions such as hydrogen co-firing power generation. Among the seven units at the existing Incheon LNG power plant, units 3 and 4 will be developed to enable hydrogen co-firing, aiming to operate the world’s first gigawatt (GW)-scale commercial hydrogen co-firing power plant.

Through these bold investments, POSCO International will complete the entire LNG value chain from exploration to production, storage, and power generation, and will accelerate eco-friendly energy businesses such as renewables and hydrogen by leveraging profitable operations.

Specifically, a 200 billion KRW investment plan has been established for renewable energy power generation over three years. Renewable energy generation including offshore and onshore wind and solar power will be expanded sevenfold from the current 0.1 GW level by 2025. Additionally, the currently nonexistent ammonia (hydrogen) storage tanks will be expanded to secure storage capacity of 100,000 kl by 2025 and 510,000 kl by 2030.

POSCO International plans to use internally generated funds of 1.5 trillion KRW in annual EBITDA as investment capital. Through these bold growth investments, the company aims to increase its current corporate value of about 4.4 trillion KRW to approximately 13 trillion KRW by 2030, thereby enhancing shareholder value.

A POSCO International official emphasized, “The merger of the two companies is meaningful in completing the dispersed LNG value chain and establishing global competitiveness,” adding, “We will grow into a global eco-friendly energy specialist contributing to national energy security along with the development of the POSCO Group.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.