Shell and Turkey’s Botas to sign long-term LNG deal

Turkish state energy company Botas and British oil major Shell (SHEL.L) will sign a long-term LNG agreement on Monday, the Turkish Energy Ministry said.

It said Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar would meet with Shell Chief Executive Wael Sawan in Ankara on Monday, after which the minister will make a statement and a long-term LNG deal will be signed between Botas and Shell.

No further details on the deal were immediately available.

Botas signed a 10-year LNG agreement with ExxonMobil (XOM.N) in May, under which Botas will purchase up to 2.5 million tons of LNG per year from the US company.

Turkey meets almost all of its consumption needs with imported gas and brought in 14.3 billion cubic metres (bcm), or 28.3 per cent of the 50.5 bcm that it consumed last year, in the form of LNG.

Turkey has the supply flexibility to a large part of national consumption needs with liquefied gas instead of pipeline gas if needed, with a gasification capacity of approximately 0.16 bcm LNG per day, according to Reuters calculations.