Gulf of Saros FSRU

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Gulf of Saros FSRU, also known as FSRU Gulf of Saros, is an operating LNG import terminal in Türkiye.

Location

Table 1: Location details

Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Gulf of Saros FSRU	Gulf of Saros, Türkiye	40.636702, 26.657427 (approximate)

The map below shows the approximate location of the terminal:

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Project Details

Table 2: Infrastructure details

mtpa = million tonnes per year

Name	Facility type	Status	Capacity	Total terminal capacity	Offshore	Associated infrastructure
Gulf of Saros FSRU	import	operating	5 mtpa	5.0 mtpa	True	–

Table 3: Cost

Name	Facility type	Cost	Total known terminal costs
Gulf of Saros FSRU	import	–	–

Financing

No financing data available.

Table 4: Project timeline

FID = Final Investment Decision, used by some developers to indicate a project will move forward

Name	Facility type	Status	Proposal year	FID year	Construction year	Operating year	Inactive year
Gulf of Saros FSRU	import	operating	2019	–	2019	2023	–

Ownership

Table 5: Ownership

Name	Facility type	Status	Owners	Parent companies	Operator
Gulf of Saros FSRU	import	operating	BOTAŞ AŞ [100%]	BOTAŞ AŞ [100.0%]	BOTAŞ

Table 6: Vessel ownership

Name	Facility type	Status	Vessel	Vessel owners
Gulf of Saros FSRU	import	operating	Vasant	BOTAŞ

Background

In December 2019 it was announced that Türkiye's state gas importer BOTAS was buying a new floating LNG import vessel, the Ertuğrul Gazi FSRU. The new vessel was going to be used to supply gas to two onshore terminals -- the existing terminal at Dörtyol, MOL FSRU Challenger, on Türkiye's East Mediterranean coast, and a new terminal being constructed at the Gulf of Saros in northwest Türkiye. S&P Global Platts reported that "the Dortyol terminal had not been used as much as had been anticipated and that the lease on the existing vessel moored there would not be renewed. Instead Botas is buying its own vessel, construction of which is expected to be completed in 2020. The new vessel will be used to supply gas at Dortyol, but more frequently at the new Saros terminal, as most of Türkiye's gas demand is in the northwest of the country. Botas is currently constructing a jetty and terminal at the Saros location."

S&P Global went on to report that "According to the 2020 economic program of the Turkish presidency, Botas will next year open a tender for the construction of a link line between the new Saros terminal and Botas' existing transit grid, specifically the Turkey-Greece-Italy Interconnector Gas Pipeline (ITGI), which runs close by. That line is also connected to the newly completed Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline at an interconnection point at Kesan, which could potentially in future allow for the import of LNG at Saros and its transit into the TANAP-TAP corridor for export to the Balkans and Italy."

In April 2021, the Ertuğrul Gazi FSRU, with a regasification capacity of 28 million cubic metres per day, arrived at the Port of Dörtyol following construction by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea.

In February 2022, Türkiye's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez confirmed that the Saros FSRU project was still on track to begin commercial operations in 2022.

In December 2022, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez said the FSRU would begin operations in January 2023. Botas chartered the Vasant FSRU for the project for 12 months starting in the first half of the year, for a fee of US$350,000 per day. The project has a capacity of 5.6 mtpa, or 7.62 bcm/y. In April 2023, the terminal received its first LNG cargo from Algeria.

The FSRU now stationed at Saros, IMO 9837066, was built in 2020 by Hyundai Heavy Industries as 'Vasant 1' for India's Swan Energy, originally intended for Swan's stalled 5 mtpa Jafrabad LNG import project in Gujarat (delayed repeatedly, including cyclone damage). The vessel was leased to BOTAŞ from around February 2023 and stationed at the Gulf of Saros site. In August 2024, Swan Energy announced it would sell the vessel outright to BOTAŞ Trading for $399 million (paid in tranches), divesting via its subsidiary Triumph Offshore (TOPL), in which Swan held a 51% stake. The vessel's AIS registry name has since been updated to 'Saros', matching the terminal site name; GIIGNL's 2026 report records it as 'Saros (ex Vasant 1)'.

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of LNG terminals, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.