Türkiye and Shell Plc signed a 10-year liquefied natural gas supply deal, the latest step in Ankara’s push to become a regional hub for the fuel on Europe’s doorstep.
Shell will sell Türkiye's state-owned Botas around 4 billion cubic meters of LNG per year starting in 2027, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said at a signing ceremony in Ankara. That’s equivalent to about 8% of the country’s total gas demand in 2023, data from the national energy regulator show.
The contract includes an option for the gas to be delivered to European terminals outside Türkiye, Bayraktar added.
Türkiye aims to become a gas hub and supplier to the European Union and has invested heavily in excess LNG import capacity as well as domestic production in the Black Sea. It already exports small volumes to the bloc, but flows are constrained by pipeline capacity at the western border with Bulgaria.
Botas buys pipeline gas from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, while Algeria and the US dominate its LNG imports. In May, the company signed a 10- year LNG supply deal for up to 2.5 million tons per year with US major Exxon Mobil Corp.