A new floating storage and regasification unit has loaded a cargo in Egypt before its planned arrival in Turkey.
Kpler data shows the 180,000-cbm FSRU Vasant 1 (built 2020) has loaded at the Idku LNG plant.
The vessel left Singapore in early December.
Turkish press reports detail that the regas unit is due to arrive in Saros Bay in the south of the country in days.
The FSRU has been chartered by Turkish energy company Botas for a firm period of 10 months from the first half of 2023.
Brokers have reported a rate of $350,000 per day on the charter and said it involves a purchase option.
The unit was built for Swan LNG’s 5 million tonnes per annum terminal at Jafrabad in Gujarat state in India. But cyclone damage set this project back
Turkey already boasts two FSRUs and in the past has deployed a third unit the then 263,000-cbm FSRU MOL Challenger (built 2017) – now renamed Bauhinia Spirit (built 2017) and temporarily working with Singapore LNG before shifting to Hong Kong.
In 2021, Botas welcomed its first FSRU newbuilding the 170,000-cbm Ertugrul Gazi (built 2021) which operates at Dortyol, close to Turkey’s border with Syria.
The country also imports LNG via the 170,000-cbm FSRU Turquoise P (built 2019), which serves as the unit for the Etki LNG project in which Etki Liman is partnered with Kolin Construction.
Turkey also ships in cargoes through two land-based LNG import terminals — EgeGaz Aliaga LNG near Izmir on the western coast and Marmara Ereglisi on the northern coast of the Sea of Marmara.
