Turkey Considers LNG Terminal

Turkey will discuss building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal with Qatar on its Aegean coast to help meet rising domestic needs Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said at the weekend according to Reuters.

Yildiz said the planned terminal on the Gulf of Saros, an inlet in European Turkey, would have an annual capacity of 5 to 6 billion cubic metres (bcm) and could help supply Bulgaria and Greece, as well as help Turkey meet its own rising demand for LNG.

"We think it would be appropriate to build an LNG terminal on the Gulf of Saros to meet the needs of Turkey and the region. Qatar would carry out the feasibility work and evaluate the project," Yildiz told reporters in Algiers on the first day of a visit to Algeria, Libya and Qatar.

"This would help relieve the [Bosporus] Straits traffic and Bulgaria and Greece could benefit from the facility as well."

Turkey, with a population of 75 million, is set to overtake Britain as Europe's third-biggest electricity consumer within a decade. Its daily gas demand was about 125 million cubic metres in late 2012 and is likely to rise to nearly 220 million during the harsh winter months, energy ministry officials say.

Turkey buys natural gas from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan and LNG from Nigeria and Algeria under long-term contracts.