The Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ), the nation's main natural gas wholesaler and assets operator, and US energy major ExxonMobil Corp have signed a cooperation deal on liquefied natural gas trading.
The Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar, who was in the US for talks, confirmed the accord in a statement after several months of negotiations.
“With this agreement, which is planned to be long-term, we will take another step in diversifying our resources,” stated Bayraktar.
“We are among the few countries in the world with ample LNG regasification capacity and we will continue to contribute to the energy supply security of both our country and our region,” the minister declared.
Value of deal
Minister Bayraktar had also mentioned last month in an interview that Turkey was in talks with ExxonMobil on a supply agreement worth more than $1 billion.
Bayraktar had said at the time that negotiations were ongoing with ExxonMobil for 2.5 million tonnes of LNG, valued at around $1.1Bln and lasting up to 10 years.
Turkey has varied LNG supply sources and has half a dozen natural gas pipelines bringing in Turkish supplies and traversing its territory to deliver volumes to other nations.
Russia is a big supplier of pipeline gas to Turkey, accounting for more than 40 percent of its consumption in 2023.
The Gazprom BlueStream gas pipeline to Turkey is 1,213 kilometres (754 miles) in length and with design capacity of 16 billion cubic metre per annum, while the Russian TurkStream gas pipeline is about 930km long and with capacity of 31.5 Bcm.
Turkey is additionally the main transit nation for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, the final leg of the 3,500km Southern Gas Corridor pipeline network for Azerbaijan gas, which came on stream in 2020 and supplies primarily Greece, the Balkans and Italy.
Main LNG suppliers
Turkey’s main LNG suppliers over the past years have included the US, Algeria and Egypt.
US LNG data shows that the Turks are currently the eighth-largest recipients of US LNG cargoes since 2016 and receive at least six shipments per month.
BOTAŞ, the signatory of the accord with ExxonMobil, builds and operates natural gas pipelines in Turkey and accounts for most of the nation’s wholesale market.
The company runs the Marmara Eregesli LNG import terminal as its main source of cargoes while several floating facilities also operate.
Turkey has received LNG since 1994, first from Algeria and later from countries like Qatar and Nigeria and then from the US as well.
ExxonMobil’s LNG portfolio is wide and varied from Qatar itself to Papua New Guinea.
It is additionally an upstream partner of QatarEnergy worldwide in addition to having supplies from Ras Laffan.
QatarEnergy is also the lead developer of the Golden Pass LNG export project in Texas that will come on stream in 2025 and in which ExxonMobil has a 30 percent stake.
