Turkey’s first floating liquefied natural gas import terminal, ETKI LNG terminal, was inaugurated on December 23 by French energy distribution company ENGIE and the Turkish construction companies Kolin and Kalyon.

Located close to Çakmakli, Izmir, the new facility was developed as a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) based solution.

One of ENGIE’s two FSRUs, the Neptune, was committed to the project. The vessel arrived at the terminal berth on December 11 fully loaded with LNG and proceeded with commissioning operations.

The company said that the 145,000 m3 capacity vessel will act as an LNG receiving and storage facility and will deliver natural gas in gaseous form.

The overall infrastructure includes a jetty and an onshore gas pipeline to connect the terminal to the national gas transport grid, operated by BOTAS.

With a capacity of up to 20 million m3 per day of gas send-out, the new ETKI LNG terminal will complement Turkey’s two existing onshore LNG terminals.