Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar will travel to the United States to hold talks on the long-term purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US. Recently, BOTAŞ signed long-term LNG supply agreements with ExxonMobil in May and Shell in early September. It was noted that Alparslan Bayraktar’s trip is aimed at finalizing a new agreement of BOTAŞ and that this agreement may be signed at Gastech 2024. No information on the international company was given, but it was noted that the terms of the agreement signed between Shell and BOTAŞ would be similar. In the Shell agreement, BOTAŞ has the right to deliver gas to third countries. This also paved the way for BOTAŞ to supply LNG to European countries.
For a long time, Turkey has been making a strategic effort to become a trade-market center as well as a natural gas supply center. Following the recent investments in LNG infrastructure, agreements for LNG trade have also started to be signed.
It was noted that Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar will go to the US again after his US contacts, which resulted in an agreement in May, and will attend the Gastech 2024 Fair and Conference to be held between September 17-19 in Houston, where the agreement is expected to be announced and signed, and will make a speech at the Ministerial panel.
In this panel titled “Energy Security and Diversity in Times of Geopolitical Uncertainty”, Minister Bayraktar will be joined by US Assistant Secretary of Energy Geoffrey Pyatt, Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Hardeep SIngh Puri, Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi and Nigerian Minister of State Ekperikpe Ekpo. Minister Bayraktar will talk about Turkey’s energy policies and its goal of becoming an energy hub country.
Minister Bayraktar will also make important contacts within the scope of Gastech. It was learned that he will hold bilateral meetings with the ministers of countries that have a say in the field of energy such as the USA, Egypt, India, Nigeria and Libya. In the meantime, it was emphasized that work is continuing in line with the energy cooperation agreement signed between Turkey and Egypt. While the Turkish side shows interest in the natural gas in the Egyptian seas, Egypt seems to be willing to supply its natural gas with Turkish FSRU (Floating LNG storage and gasification unit) vessels.
