Turkey's first publicly-owned floating LNG storage and gasification vessel (FSRU), “Ertugrul Gazi' will add significant flexibility to Turkey's energy supply chain security, with 110 million cubic meters of storage and 28 million cubic meters of gasification capacity, the Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said Friday.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the Ertugrul Gazi FSRU presided over by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the southern Hatay province, Donmez said the vessel has the highest gasification capacity among the existing FSRUs in the world.
With speedy integration to the grid system and its ability to mobilize quickly, the ship can be quickly dispatched to regions where it is needed to operate resource points in areas of high consumption, Donmez explained.
It will undertake its first ship-to-ship LNG transfer on June 29, he confirmed.
The vessel will help ensure that Turkey’s record of uninterrupted power supply will continue. It will be able to meet 8.2% of the daily natural gas capacity supplied to the grid system.
Turkey's first FSRU was launched in Aliaga, Izmir in December 2016 at a time when the country needed extra gas capacity to meet increased consumption due to the very cold weather conditions at that time.
The Ertugrul Gazi FSRU would be the first FSRU ship to fly the Turkish flag, at a length of 295 meters, a width of 46 meters, and a height of 63 meters.
It is owned by Turkey’s state-owned crude oil and natural gas pipelines and trading company, Botas.
It will connect to facilities in the southern Hatay province and meet the household energy demand for one year of the Hatay and Osmaniye provinces.
By Busranur Begcecanli
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr