Botas News

Uzmar Shipyard in Istanbul, Turkey has launched a first-of-its-kind tractor tug for Turkish operator BOTAS.The vessel, named the Sultanhani, was launched on February 27 as the world’s first Voith propelled tractor tug with liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual fuel propulsion. It is the first of two hulls being built for BOTAS to Robert Allan Ltd.’s TRAktor V3900-DF design.The TRAktor V3900-DF builds on Robert Allan Ltd.’s experience designing both Voith tractor tugs and LNG dual fuel tugs.

BSE-listed Swan Energy, via its 51% subsidiary Triumph Offshore Private Limited (TOPL), said Friday it had executed a term sheet with Turkey's BOTAS to lease an FSRU vessel to the Turkish firm.The term sheet, signed on December 31, is for chartering the FSRU vessel 'Vasant l' for 365 days at a dayrate of $250,000.TOPL is financed by a consortium of bankers, with State Bank of India as the Lead Bank.Swan Energy issued a statement on the term sheet following media reports. It said separately that it hadn't informed the market of the term sheet with BOTAS as it had waited for approval from the consortium of bankers financing TOPL."[TOPL] had applied for lenders' approval for chartering of vessel with the charterer, which is pending to be received.

The Nordlotus sailed from Turkey's Ceyhan oil export hub loaded with Azeri crude on Monday, the first such shipment since earthquakes hit the region on Feb. 6, ship-tracking data showed and a trading source said.The tanker carried 682,500 barrels of oil and began loading on Feb. 12, Turkish state energy company BOTAS said in a statement on Monday.The Alfa Baltica was also shown at a jetty at the Botas Ceyhan oil terminal on Monday and was loading Azeri crude, the trade source said.The earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria halted operations at Ceyhan, which receives crude supplies from northern Iraq and Azerbaijan.Loading of Azeri oil at Ceyhan resumed on Sunday, a spokeswoman for BP said. The company declared force majeure on loadings of Azeri crude from Ceyhan on Feb.

The Ertuğrul Gazi Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) for was delivered recently from South Korea to Turkey's BOTAŞ Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS), the classification society ABS has informed.Built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in accordance with the ABS Guide for Building and Classing LNG Regasification Vessels, the 295-meter-long Ertuğrul Gazi, which has a capacity for 170,000 m3 of LNG, is now undergoing final regasification trials on site before starting operations…

The global search for lower carbon forms of energy and demand for cost-effective ways to serve power demand in emerging markets and remote locations is driving interest in floating storage and regasification units (FSRU).FSRUs are a faster and more flexible way to import natural gas to power-constrained places, so demand for the units is increasing and the business case for owning them is growing stronger.Their model for supplying energy and transport fuel is historically well proven: they offer faster development timelines and lower initial capital costs compared to onshore regasification…

Qatargas, the world's largest liquefied natural gas company, has announced the safe delivery of the largest single cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the Marmara LNG Terminal in Turkey.The super-chilled LNG was delivered on board the Q-Flex vessel ‘Al Sheehaniya’, which enters the record books as the first ever Q-Flex vessel to call at the recently expanded Marmara LNG Terminal.A press release from the Qatar-based global energy operator quoted Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chief Executive Officer, Qatargas as sayig: “The recent expansion of Marmara LNG Terminal allows Qatargas to send the world's largest LNG vessels to yet another LNG terminal in Turkey.""With 14 LNG trains and a total annual production capacity of 77 million tonnes…

Classification society ABS said it was selected to class a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for Turkey’s oil and gas pipeline operator BOTAS.“As demand for gas has increased over the last decade, the supply chain has had to adapt and figure out new ways of getting gas to expanding markets,” said Jamie Smith, ABS Senior Vice President and Chief Business Development Officer. “FSRUs, like this one for Turkey, are providing gas distributors and suppliers an efficient and effective solution for getting their product to consumers.”Planned to be built at Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard, the FSRU will have a 170,000 cubic meter storage capacity and a 1,000 MMSCFD LNG discharge capacity. The FSRU will be jetty moored off the coast of Turkey and operated by Mitsui O.S.K.

Ankara hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Taner Yildiz, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. The parties discussed the main issues of constructing a new gas pipeline across the Black Sea towards Turkey. The meeting considered the preliminary feasibility study on the new gas pipeline and approved its new route. The four strings will have an aggregate capacity of 63 billion cubic meters a year. 660 kilometers of the pipeline’s route will be laid within the old corridor of South Stream and 250 kilometers – within a new corridor towards the European part of Turkey. Already on January 28 Gazprom will submit a notice requesting a conduct of FEED operations for the new Turkish offshore section.

Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Mehmet Konuk, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corporation yesterday, signed in Ankara a Memorandum of Understanding on constructing an offshore gas pipeline across the Black Sea towards Turkey. The Memorandum was signed in the presence of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation and Recep Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkey. The new gas pipeline will have a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters, with 14 billion cubic meters slated for Turkish consumers (identical amount is being delivered via the Balkan Corridor) and nearly 50 billion cubic meters conveyed to the border between Turkey and Greece, where a delivery point will be arranged.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Monday 6.5 million barrels of Iraqi Kurdish crude oil had been shipped to world markets via Turkey's Ceyhan port since exports began and that a seventh tanker was being loaded at the terminal. Yildiz said crude flow on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline had been halted as of Monday due to maintenance work. Flows through the 120,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) pipeline began at the end of 2013 but the first cargo was not loaded until May. The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, whose peshmerga forces are being supported by U.S. air strikes in their battle against the radical Sunni militants of the Islamic State, has been in a long constitutional fight with Baghdad over independent oil sales.

Istanbul's Bosphorus straits were closed to shipping for several hours on Monday to allow a massive pipeline laying platform owned by Saipem to pass through into the Black Sea, shipping officials said. The Saipem 7000 entered the straits at around 9:45 am (0645 GMT) on its way to lay an undersea gas pipeline in the Black Sea as part of the Blue Stream pipeline that will carry Russian gas to Turkey. Officials expect the platform to exit the Straits early Monday evening. The Blue Stream project is a partnership between Turkey's Botas, Eni of Italy and Gazprom of Russia. - (Reuters)