Botas, a unit of Turkish Petroleum Corp, has shared a video of the new Turkish FSRU as the vessel nears its destination at the Dortyol facility in the southern province of Hatay.
To remind, Ertugrul Gazi left Hyundai Heavy’s yard in South Korea last month. Its AIS data shows that the FSRU should reach the Suez Canal later this week.
Botas expects the vessel to arrive in Turkey by the end of this month.
The first Turkish-flagged FSRU has a regasification capacity of 28 million cubic meters per day and a storage capacity of 170,000 cubic meters. It is 295 meters long and 46 meters wide.
The Dortyol facility previously used the 263,000-cbm MOL FSRU Challenger, world’s largest such vessel. This giant departed Turkey some two weeks ago and should later this year start serving a long-term contract in Hong Kong.
In addition to the brand new Ertugrul Gazi, there is also one other FSRU operating in Turkey at the privately-owned Etki terminal in Aliaga, Izmir. The 170,000-cbm Turquoise belongs to Pardus Energy.
Turkey also plans to add another FSRU in Saros Bay, north of the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Thanks to the FSRUs, Turkey has the ability to receive gas from different countries or spot market, contrary to the limited pipeline gas supplies, Botas previously said.
Turkey increased its LNG imports by almost 19 percent last year, boosted by spot volumes from Qatar and the US, according to a recent report.
LNG imports hit 15.07 bcm in 2020, accounting for 31.3 percent of Turkey’s total gas imports.