The floating, storage, and re-gasification unit (FSRU) Neptune, previously known as GDF Suez Neptune, has arrived near Aliaga on the Agean Sea where it will be used as Turkey’s third liquified natural gas (LNG) import terminal, LNG World News reported.
The 145,130cbm vessel, Turkey’s first FSRU, is expected to contribute more than 5bcm/y of natural gas to Turkey’s gas supply. It has arted conducting test studies inİzmir’s Aliağa district. In a period of only six months unit will be able to transfer the capacity, which is usually activated in four years, to Turkey’s national gas supply. This is possible since it operates from the water, informed Daily Sabah.
The Norwegian-flagged 2009-built, 283-meter-long, 43-meter-wide floating unit will be able to transfer LNG from different vessels to the national system in addition to the gas supply. With a capacity of more than 10% of Turkey’s annual demand of about 40bcm of gas, the unit is continuing its test studies in the process of converting liquefied gas into natural gas. If the unit completes the testing process, it is expected to start providing natural gas to the system before the end of December.
The new floating LNG import project will be known as the Etki LNG terminal.
The LNG terminal is located in the Aliaga industrial area and consists of a new jetty able to receive LNG carriers of up to 217,000cbm of capacity. The LNG jetty allows two vessels to be moored in a double-banked configuration so that a visiting tanker can transfer its cargo via an STS operation to the FSRU.
