Turkey expecting to seal long-term Qatari LNG deal

Aura Sabadus

18-Sep-2014

Turkey is expecting to secure a long-term LNG supply contract with Qatar having already locked in 1.2 billion cubic metres (bcm), a senior Turkish government source told ICIS this week.

The source said the Gulf state had agreed to supply nine cargoes for delivery this winter during a state visit by a high-profile Turkish delegation including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last weekend.

It was not immediately clear if the volumes were surplus to a nine-cargo strip deal announced earlier this summer.

“The nine cargoes for 1.2bcm are for this winter,” the source said.

“Long-term contract negotiations have been continuing and this time I can say it is promising,” he added.

The volumes will be off-taken by the Turkish incumbent BOTAS.

Turkey has been exploring a variety of possibilities to back up gas supplies this winter in case Russian flows transited via Ukraine are cut or reduced as a result of ongoing tensions between Moscow and Kiev.

On average, 41 million cubic metres/day of Russian gas feeds the high-consumption northwestern Marmara region and any shortages could have a negative impact on the country’s economy.

Back-up measures could include increasing Russian imports via the Blue Stream pipeline, Azerbaijani and Iranian pipeline flows as well as LNG.

However, given technical constraints in the pipeline system, which make it difficult for natural gas to be pumped east to west within the country, the only reliable and flexible option is the import of LNG.

Turkey’s two LNG terminals are situated in the western part of the country and are closest to the Marmara region.

In 2013, Turkey imported 3.9bcm of regasified Algerian LNG and 1.27bcm of Nigerian LNG under its long-term contracts with the two countries.

It also took in spot cargoes from the Netherlands, Qatar, Egypt, Norway and Yemen. Aura Sabadus

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