Qatar, Turkish company in talks for LNG facility

DOHA

An offshore gas search facility of Turkey’s state-run TPAO is seen above. The company eyes more activity in Libya. AA photo

Qatar is in talks with a Turkish company for the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Turkey, according to the energy and industry minister of the Gulf nation.

Details on the issue will soon be revealed, said Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada after a meeting with visiting Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız, without specifying a company name. Turkey is discussing the building of an LNG terminal with Qatar on its Aegean coast in order to help meet rising domestic needs, Yıldız had said before the meeting.

Yıldız said the planned terminal on the Gulf of Saros, an inlet in European Turkey, would have an annual capacity of 5 to 6 billion cubic meters (bcm) and could help supply Bulgaria and Greece, as well as help Turkey meet its own rising LNG demand.

“Qatar will carry out the feasibility work and evaluate the project,” Yıldız told reporters in Algiers on the first day of a visit to Algeria, Libya and Qatar, adding that such a facility would also help reduce the risky tanker traffic on Turkey’s straits.

Al-Sada said Qatar may sell Turkey LNG on the spot markets. Yıldız said Turkey wanted Qatar, the world’s leading LNG supplier, to become the sixth country Turkey buys gas from. Currently Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan provide natural gas to Turkey, while Algeria and Nigeria sell LNG.

Libyan resources

Minister Yıldız also stressed that Turkey was paying attention to Libya in terms of oil exploration and production abroad. “The normalization of the country will be possible with the rise in petrol and natural gas revenue. If Libya’s oil output of 1.6 million barrels oil production daily increased to 2 million barrels, it would be beneficial for the country,” Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying.

“Turkey has oil exploration and production works in Libya’s Fezzan field, but it is still not enough. We have demanded new fields, and there are three possibilities on this topic. First of all, the independent approach of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO); secondly, the cooperation between TPAO and the Turkish private sector; and lastly, the independent work of the private sector,” he said.

Separately, Arif Özozan, the chief executive of Turkey’s Gama Enerji, said the company was interested in building a 500-600 MW natural gas-burning power plant in Libya’s city of Tripoli, or Misrata, Reuters reported yesterday.