Turkey puts second floating LNG unit into operation

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Turkey began operations of its second floating liquefied natural gas unit (FSRU) with 20 million cubic meters of send-out capacity per day, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak announced late on Feb. 7.

The FSRU docked at a port in the Dörtyol district of the Mediterranean province of Hatay.

The country aims to reduce its dependency on pipeline gas through FSRUs, so these units are docked at ports close to regions with higher gas consumption, Albayrak said.

“We are minimizing investment costs for transmission and distribution lines, as well as transportation costs [with FSRUs],” he added.

Turkey’s first FSRU was launched off the Aliağa district of the western province of İzmir in December 2016, at a time when the country needed extra gas capacity to meet the increased consumption due to the cold weather conditions at that time. That first unit, which the Kolin and Kalyon companies operate, also has 20 million cubic meters of send-out capacity per day.

“The [second] unit has 263,000 cubic meters of LNG storage capacity. This makes it the largest-capacity LNG storage unit in the world. The unit has around 20 million cubic meters of daily send-out capacity and will contribute a lot to Turkey’s energy security,” Albayrak said.

“By 2023, Turkey will have increased its 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas storage capacity from the Silivri and Salt Lake [Tuz Gölü] storage facilities to 10 billion cubic meters. Our target is to be able to store at least 20 percent of our annual gas consumption so that we can have more energy security,” he added.

Turkey has already increased its daily send-out capacity from 190 million cubic meters in 2015 to 288 million cubic meters by the end of 2017, Albayrak stated.

“This capacity is 20 percent more than Turkey’s highest daily gas consumption of 250 million cubic meters. So ultimately we will not only be able to meet our gas needs but also be able to export surplus capacity,” he added, stressing that a strong gas infrastructure will also make the country more competitive.

“In that regard, the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline [TANAP] project will start delivering gas in the middle of this year, while the first gas from TurkStream will come in 2019,” Albayrak said, noting that with these projects Turkey will become an “intersection point” for eight natural gas pipeline projects.