LNG 도입계약의 법적 분석

LNG Sale &　Purchase Contract is an international trade with the nature of huge amount of contract price, long term over 20 years, and the unique financial structure. In order to understand LNG trade, it is required to know the flow of LNG from exploration, production, transportation, distribution, marketing and to have the knowledge on International Law, International Trade Law. Further, LNG trade should be understood with recognizing not only the commercial character but also the influences of geopolitical circumstances. The environmental problems of fossil fuel including CO2 emission has been the cause of the development of renewable energy and nuclear energy. However, after the Fukushima accident in 2011 the big picture on the safety of unclear has been changed dramatically. While it might be difficult for Korea which is importing over 97% of energy sources to give up unclear generation policy abruptly, to keep its nuclear policy going on will be harder as well. There has been the change of public perception on renewable which has its own limits and subsidies for Renewable became the issue as one of the main reason for budget deficit in EU countries, especially in Spain. Spain government announced that the support for renewable energy should be cut. Under the big change of trend in energy as said above, the focus of energy policy is moving to the unconventional energy sources. The representative one is shale gas. The reasons are the reserve and production of shale gas have been increased in the world and natural gas has strong competitiveness with low emission of CO2 compared to oil or coal. In this article, the legal nature of LNG Sale & Purchase will be dealt in depth. With this, the contractors will understand what will be the main legal issues in dealing. Consequently, it will help to finalize the contract with favor of our country.