Turkey’s Botas strikes deal to buy LNG from Shell

Turkish energy company Boru Hatları ile Petrol Taşıma AŞ (Botas) has agreed to buy up to four billion cubic metres of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from British energy major Shell.

The companies signed a 10-year supply pact, with Shell starting deliveries from 2027 from its US and global portfolio.

The deal will enable Botas to expand its LNG access and use its terminal and pipeline infrastructure to help Turkey diversify its gas resources and become a regional gas hub.

The value of the deal was not given.

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“Our goal in natural gas, 99 percent of which we imported until the discovery of Black Sea Gas, is to diversify the supply side and offer natural gas to our citizens and industry in a more competitive and affordable rate,” said Turkish energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar in a statement.

In a post on social media platform X, the minister said that the agreement provides additional regional and global trade opportunities with the option of receiving LNG from the filling port and unloading to European terminals.

In May, Botas signed a deal with US energy company ExxonMobil to receive up to 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum for a 10-year period. According to the data agency Argus, the imported LNG would cost about $1 billion.

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In April, Bayraktar told the Financial Times that Ankara wanted to build a “new supply portfolio”.

Turkey has expanded its LNG import infrastructure with LNG making around 30 percent of its natural gas imports, up from 15 percent in 2014. Additionally, it has long-term LNG deals with Oman and Algeria.

Ankara has already launched exploration and production operations, including a gas site in the Black Sea and oil drilling in the country’s southeast.