Türkiye’s BOTAS inks LNG trade deal with ExxonMobil in US

The Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) and US energy company, ExxonMobil, signed a cooperation deal on liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade, the Turkish energy and natural resources minister announced Wednesday.

Alparslan Bayraktar, who is in Washington DC for talks, announced the deal on X.

“With this agreement, which is planned to be long-term, we will take another step in diversifying our resources,” Bayraktar said as he highlighted existing LNG trade between Türkiye and the US.

“We are among the few countries in the world with our gasification capacity,” he said. “We will continue to contribute to the energy supply security of both our country and our region.”

The Turkish minister said last month that Türkiye was in talks with ExxonMobil on a more than $1 billion deal to buy LNG.

Bayraktar said in an interview that negotiations were ongoing with ExxonMobil for 2.5 million tonnes of LNG, valued at around $1.1 billion.

He added that the deal could last 10 years.

Türkiye has seven international natural gas pipelines, five LNG facilities, including three floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) and two underground natural gas storage facilities.

The country aims to become a key gas hub in the region, excel as an exporter and be an effective manager of the gas it provides.