MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) -- Gazprom delivered its first consignment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to South Korea Wednesday, Russia's energy giant and natural gas monopoly said in a statement.

Gazprom said its UK-based subsidiary, Gazprom Marketing and Trading Ltd., bought the consignment of 145,000 cubic meters of LNG (equivalent to 92 million cubic meters of natural gas) from the Mitsubishi Corporation, which bought it from the company Celt, its joint venture with Tokyo Electric Power, Inc., the statement said.

The delivery was made to the Pyeongtaek terminal, owned by KOGAS, a South Korean state-controlled importer of LNG.

Gazprom and KOGAS signed a five-year cooperation agreement on deliveries of Russian gas to South Korea in May 2003.

To meet the country's increasing demand and to ensure a stable supply of natural gas, KOGAS imported 22.3 million tons of LNG in 2005. South Korea imports LNG from Qatar, Oman, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Australia and Russia.