A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration, School of Management

Gas markets that have already been restructured have yielded clear benefits in the form of increased customer choices and lower prices to the customer. These benefits have been achieved by structural change and regulatory change, which brings producers into competition with each other as well as a multitude of traders by removing transport monopolies and establishing effective Third Party Access (TPA) to transport. The restructuring including privatisation of monopolized industry in a country brings about many benefits such as cost and price reduction, improved services, increased efficiency and efficient resource allocation, even though it brings about some concerns such as unemployment, reduced new investment, declined supply stability, and foreign capital or conglomerate dominance. Korean government is planning to restructure its natural gas industry by introducing gas-to-gas competition by unbundling of imports/sales activities from terminal/transmission network operation and instituting an open access regime for receiving terminals and transmission network. Although the restructuring and privatisation of natural gas industry in Korea will bring many positive effects to the country, there are many issues, which should be dealt with caution in order to reduce side effects of the restructuring. In this research study, the issues were analysed and some recommendations were suggested to deal with the issues.