Turkey’s Deputy Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar last week said that the country would expand its LNG import and storage facility by deploying a new Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU). Turkey has so far operated two FSRUs in Izmir province and Hatay province which were launched in 2016 and 2018, respectively. The third FSRU will be deployed in Saros Bay, in northwestern Turkey, near the Gallipoli Peninsula. Bayraktar said the new FSRU would enter service in 2021 but did not disclose the unit’s capacity.
Turkey is targeting to increase LNG share in its natural gas mix from 28% in 2019 to 33% in 2020 to take benefits from the fuel’s low prices. In 2019, Turkey imported 45.3 bcm natural gas worth around $12 billion. In the first half of 2020, Turkey imported 12.1 bcm of natural via pipeline and 10.3 bcm of LNG. In July, natural gas imports fell 4.5% year-on-year, consisting of 2.6 bcm via pipeline and 509 mcm as LNG.
Azerbaijan, Russia, and Iran were Turkey’s largest natural gas suppliers via pipeline. Meanwhile, Turkey’s LNG imports came from Qatar, the US, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, Equatorial Guinea, Norway, and Spain.
