Turkey’s latest floating storage and regasification unit at Saros Bay, in the country’s north-west, has successfully completed its first ship-to-ship natural gas transfer.
BW LNG’s 138,100-cbm Berge Arzew (built 2004) has delivered an Algerian LNG cargo to the 180,000-cbm Vasant 1 (built 2020), a ship chartered by Turkish state energy company Botas to act as the country’s third FSRU.
Further operations at Saros will now continue, said managers of Zihni Shipping — the Istanbul-based company that provides exclusive agency services to the Vasant 1.
Asaf Guneri-led Zihni, a traditional ship agent founded more than 90 years ago, is also the exclusive agent for another Botas FSRU — the 170,000-cbm Ertugrul Gazi (built 2021), which operates at Dortyol, close to Turkey’s border with Syria.
The ship-to-ship transfer between the Vasant 1 and the Berge Arzew marks the end of a long process to get Turkey’s third FSRU up and running.
Botas first chartered the Vasant 1 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, with a purchase option attached.
On its way to Turkey from Singapore, the Vasant 1 then loaded in January a cargo of LNG at Egypt’s Idku LNG plant.
According to Zihni, the Egyptian cargo was unloaded at Saros on 15 February.
After that operation was carried out to Botas’ satisfaction, the Vasant 1 proceeded to take on its first ship-to-ship transfer from the Berge Arzew on 17 April, the ship agent added.
The Vasant 1 was originally built for Swan LNG’s five million tonnes per annum terminal at Jafrabad in Gujarat state in India. Cyclone damage, however, set this project back.
Alongside the Vasant 1 and the Ertugrul Gazi, Turkey 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.
The country also uses two established onshore LNG import terminals — EgeGaz Aliaga LNG near Izmir on the western coast and Marmara Ereglisi on the northern coast of the Sea of Marmara.
