Turkey's Botas Embarks on New FSRU Project
Turkish state-owned Botas has begun the public consultation process for its planned development of a terminal for a floating storage and regasification terminal (FSRU) on the Gulf of Saros on the European side of Turkey's Aegean coast.
According to an announcement by Turkey's environment ministry August 15, a public consultation meeting will take place October 2, allowing scrutiny of the project's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
The EIA says the project involves the construction of a terminal to handle LNG tankers of up to 100,000 deadweight tonnage.
Onshore facilities listed as planned are LNG storage of 125,000 m3 to 263,000 m3 plus a 14mn and 28mn m3/d (5.1bn to 10.2bn m3/yr) capacity regas facility, but they are not the subject of this EIA.
Botas has previously applied for permission for the compulsory purchase of land to allow for the laying of a pipeline to connect the planned FSRU terminal to its existing gas transit infrastructure.
The link will connect the terminal to Botas's transit line loop around the Sea of Marmara which has a nominal capacity of around 9bn to 10bn m3/yr and which includes connections to the Turkey-Greece interconnector, Botas' existing west-east transit line which receives gas from the Transbalkan pipeline, and which will - within the next three years - also connect to the TANAP and TurkStream import lines.
The new FSRU terminal will be Turkey's third and Botas' second. The four existing Turkish terminals consist of two onshore and two FSRU-based facilities - of which Botas operates one of each (the older onshore terminal at Marmara Ereglisi opened in 1994, and the newer FSRU which began commissioning February 2018 at Dortyol). Together they are used mainly for mid winter peak-shaving and for the purchase of cheap LNG for storage during the summer low season.
Botas cleared to buy land for TurkStream overland section
Separately August 15, Turkey's official state gazette announced that Botas had been authorised to expropriate land for construction of the been first overland section of the 31.75bn m3/yr TurkStream pipeline, running from Kiyikoy on Turkey's European Black Sea coast to Botas' western import transit line at Luleburgaz.
The authorisation also allows for the construction of service buildings and structures, access roads and electrical grounding systems. Botas is still awaiting final approval for its EIA for the line, which was granted provisional approval in April. The line is due to be built using 48-inch diameter pipe, allowing it to carry both the 15.75bn m3/yr which Turkey will import via the first subsea string of TurkStream and the additional 15.75bn m3/yr to be delivered via the second string which will transit Turkey en route for southeast Europe.
Construction of the landfall section of the first string and the final subsea section of the second string are both currently underway.
The export string of TurkStream had been expected to run to the Turkey-Greece border; but recent announcements by Bulgaria suggest the line will run overland to the Turkey-Bulgaria border. Turkish and Russian officials earlier this year announced they had agreed on a route, but have yet to publish details.