LNG

Papua New Guinea (PNG) LNG partners – notably Santos and ExxonMobil – have approved a final investment decision to tie in the Agogo production facility in a bid to bolster feedstock and sustain LNG exports to 2028, and beyond.

Fracking activity is ramping up across the U.S. as producers cater to booming LNG export demand and seek to pre-empt service price spikes. Early movers can reap superior margins.

First gas received at Santos’ BW Opal floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel puts the Australian major on track with the Darwin LNG project, CEO Kevin Gallagher said. Situated off Darwin, Northern Territories, the FSPO receives gas from the Barossa gas wells.

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.

Viability of BG Group's planned LNG export project in Tanzania is boosted by higher-than-anticipated flow rates at a test well at its Mzia discovery, which reduce reservoir risk.