POSCO says to lend LNG tanker to Japan's Itochu

SEOUL: South Korea's POSCO said on Thursday it would lend its No.4 liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker to be built by June, 2013 to Japanese trading house Itochu Corp to meet seasonal demand in Japan.

The world's No.4 steelmaker and Itochu signed a contract on Wednesday to store LNG in the new 165,000-kilolitre tanker where they will store the gas to be bought at lower prices during summer and delivered to Japanese terminals during winter, Chung Jae-woong, a public relation official at POSCO, said.

He noted POSCO owns two 100,000-kilolitre LNG tankers and will complete a third one at 165,000 kilolitres by this September for power generation for its own steel production.