June 23 (WAM) -- South Korea may consider laying an undersea pipeline to import natural gas from Russia's Far East if plans to bring the resource through North Korea fall through, Yonhap News quoted a government source as having said on Tuesday. Feasibility studies to transport the gas through North Korea are ongoing and expected to conclude by year's end, but alternatives are also being explored, a Ministry of Knowledge Economy official said. The plan is a follow up to an agreement reached last year between KOGAS and Russia's state-run Gazprom, under which South Korea will import 7.5 million tons of natural gas beginning in 2015.

Gazprom President Alexei Miller arrived in Seoul on Monday to discuss the details of shipping the gas from Russia. The ministry, which is in charge of the country's industrial and energy resource policies, said that the original plan to build and overland pipeline remains valid, but recent developments including Pyongyang's nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, along with the resulting U.N sanctions against the North, may cause problems. Alternatives include sending the gas from the Russian port city of Vladivostok through pipelines under the East Sea to a new natural gas storage facility being built in Samcheok, a coastal city about 300 km east of Seoul.

KOGAS and Gazprom are also reviewing the possibility of turning the gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG) and bringing it by ship. Seoul has been importing LNG from Russia via ship since April. South Korea is a major consumer of natural gas and is making efforts to diversify its import sources, which mainly comprise nations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.