SEATTLE (Oil Monster): ExxonMobil announced that it has signed a 10-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade agreement with BOTAS Petroleum Pipeline Co. - the Turkish state-owned oil and gas distributor.
The agreement was signed in Washington during the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar’s visit to the U.S. Under the terms of the agreement, BOTAS will buy up to 2.5 million tons of LNG every year over the contract period.
Bayraktar, in a post on social media platform X, noted that a cooperation agreement between ExxonMobil and BOTAS was signed, along with various other contracts. The agreement will help Turkey diversify its routes resources, which in turn will further strengthen its energy supply security, he added.
Incidentally, Turkiye’s energy needs are mostly met through imports, with Russia being the largest natural gas supplier. The diversification efforts by the country has significantly reduced the share of Russian gas from over 53% between 2013 and 2018 to around 39.5% in 2022, as per official data.
Meantime, BOTAS termed the new long-term LNG supply agreement with ExxonMobil as “strategic”.
ExxonMobil’s Golden Pass LNG export project in Sabine Pass, Texas, in collaboration with QatarEnergy, with an estimated capacity of 18 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of LNG, is expected to come online this year.