LNG

TotalEnergies, SOCAR and Abu Dhabi’s XRG have taken a final investment decision on the full development of Azerbaijan’s offshore Absheron field, securing up to 6 bcm/y of new Caspian gas from 2029. The additional volumes, destined mostly for Turkey via the TANAP pipeline, will help Ankara reduce reliance on spot LNG.

Egypt and Turkey are poised to dominate the next phase of Eastern Mediterranean gas development as competition shifts from control of reserves to infrastructure. Egypt’s Idku and Damietta plants are the region’s only large-scale LNG export facilities, with 12 mtpa capacity combined, while replicating them would cost competitors $6 billion-$10 billion and take nearly a decade, analysts estimate.

Turkey has started expanding its Marmara Ereğlisi LNG import terminal with construction of a fourth storage tank, state operator BOTAŞ said. The new 160,000-cubic-meter tank will lift total LNG storage capacity to 415,000 cubic meters from 255,000 cubic meters. Works began on July 7, with addition of the fourth storage tank set to increase the terminal’s total capacity by about 63%, once in operation around 2029.

Shell has won a tender to deliver one LNG cargo to Turkey on behalf of Bulgaria’s state-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz, in a move highlighting Sofia’s reliance on LNG to meet seasonal electricity demand.

Greek gas company DEPA has been awarded the tender for one LNG held by Bulgargaz. Delivery of the cargo will be to the Marmara Ereğlisi LNG terminal in Turkey.

Asian buyers are set to outcompete Europe for US LNG cargoes, driven by stronger price signals and falling freight rates that reopen arbitrage opportunities to the Pacific basin.

Turkish state gas company BOTAS has agreed to purchase a total of 11 bcm of LNG-equivalent over 10 years from Germany’s state-owned SEFE and Italy’s Eni starting from 2028. Shipments will take place in winter only, sourced the partner’s Atlantic Basin supply portfolios.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced the discovery of a significant natural gas reserve at a well in the Black Sea. Estimated to hold 75 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas at an estimated value of over $30 billion, the new find will put a lid on Turkey’s LNG imports.

"With this discovery, we will meet the natural gas needs of homes in Turkey for 3.5 years," Erdogan at the EPC Summit in the Albanian capital Tirana on Saturday. The novel discovery, worth an estimated $30 billion, has been found at a depth of 3,500 metres in the Goktepe-3 well, he disclosed.

Daily gas production at Turkey’s flagship Sakarya field in the Black Sea nears 9.5 bcm and a timely start of production at Goktepe-3 would reduce the country’s need to import natural gas for years to come. The government has for long urged state-run Botas to reduce its energy import bill by limiting LNG imports and forge closer ties to international upstream companies with a view to develop more domestic oil and gas reserves.

In 2025, Turkey’s LNG imports are forecast to surpass 9 million tons, equivalent to some 12.4 bcm – down from the 14.27 bcm of LNG imported two years earlier. The fall in LNG imports reflects the country’s shift to regional suppliers and drive to increase domestic gas production.

Deliveries of pipeline gas from Turkmenistan will rise 1.3 bcm by the end of this year, based on a contract that state-run Botas signed with Turkmengaz in March. Botas is handling over 90% percent of Turkey’s total gas imports. No details on pricing terms were provided, though Turkey’s energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar indicated volumes imported from Turkmenistan could rise up to 2 bcm per year.

Part of Botas’ imported LNG, shipped under long-term contracts, has been re-exported – either on small-scale tankers or in the form or shipped via pipelines to neighbouring countries. In 2023, Turkey exported 896 million cubic metres of natural gas with 371 mcm supplied to Bulgaria, 217 mcm to Greece (pipeline), and 102 mcm to Romania – all via pipeline. Another 206 mcm was sold to Swiss trading houses in the form of LNG.

To reign in excess supplies, Turkey is trying to re-negotiating long-term LNG supply deals, e.g. the ongoing discussions with ExxonMobil for 2.5 mtpa or less over a decade. Similarly, Botas is in talks with Shell over flexible term LNG supply.

Delivery of 1.1 mtpa of LNG over 10 years was recently agreed with TotalEnergy. First shipments envisaged for 2027, though the actual offtake might be scaled down if more cost-competitive natural gas can be produced in Turkey by that time.

Turkey’s incumbent gas importer BOTAS has issued a tender for delivery of five LNG cargoes in the first quarter of 2025 that will support the supply and demand balance in the EU gas market this winter. Analysts caution, however, Egypt’s new FSRU poses upside risk to non-European demand.

Turkey, an LNG importer and with plans to increase domestic production from Black Sea fields and the main route to Europe for natural gas from Azerbaijan, has raised the prices of natural gas and power by 20 percent for industrial users amid energy secuirty concerns in the South Caucasus region bordering Eastern Europe.