NATGAS: Turkey’s Botas books full TurkStream Capacity for Dec: Platts

Turkey’s state gas importer Botas has again reserved all available spot capacity in the TurkStream pipeline’s Turkish section for December, Platts said.

• This is maintaining its monthly bookings of 10.8mn cbm/d.
• It also holds the full quarterly capacity of 13.1mn cbm/d for October-December, continuing patterns seen throughout 2024.
• Botas is operating under a four-year, 5.75 bcm/y spot contract with Gazprom, which expires in 2025 alongside its 16 bcm/y Blue Stream contract.
• Negotiations for renewals are under way, though Turkish officials have not disclosed progress.
• The TurkStream string allocated to Turkey has 15.75 bcm/y of capacity, with 9.75 bcm/y held by six private firms that have not imported gas since March.
• Botas also kept full monthly capacity at the Iranian border for Turkmen swap gas, though no flows have occurred since June. At the Turkgozu point for Azeri gas, no December bookings were made, despite Socar previously reserving capacity earlier in the year.