Botaş Saros FSRU Terminal
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Botaş Saros FSRU Terminal () is a
liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...
(LNG) terminal in Turkey. Owned by the Turkish state-owned corporation
BOTAŞ BOTAŞ Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) is the state-owned crude oil and natural gas pipelines and trading company in Turkey. The company was established in 1974 as a subsidiary of TPAO. Since 1995, BOTAS is a wholly state-owned company. ...
, it is located at the northeastern shore of the
Gulf of Saros Gulf of Saros or Saros Bay () is a gulf north of the Dardanelles, Turkey. Ancient Greeks called it the Gulf of Melas (). The bay is long and wide. Far from industrialized areas and thanks to underwater currents, it is a popular summer recre ...
in Turkey. It will be used for converting LNG imported by LNG carriers back to natural gas using a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU), and transferring the natural gas into the national pipeline network system. Projected in 2019, the construction works started in November 2020, and it is expected to be completed in early 2023. All legal efforts to stop the project due to environmental concerns failed.


FSRU terminal

In 2019, the state-owned Turkish oil and gas pipeline corporation BOTAŞ started a project to build a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, called a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) terminal, in the northeastern shore of the Gulf of Saros, northern
Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...
, between the Cape Bekirçavuş and Köpekli Creak. It is about southeast of Gökçetepe village and about southwest of Sazlıdere village in
Keşan Keşan (; ; ; Byzantine Greek: Ρούσιον, ''Rusion'') is a town in Edirne Province, Turkey. It is the seat of Keşan District.Edirne Province Edirne Province () is a Turkish province located in East Thrace. Part of European Turkey, it is one of only three provinces located entirely within continental Europe. Its area is 6,145 km2, and its population is 414,714 (2022). Edirne Province ...
. The facility's distance to the 2010-declared "Saros Special
Environmental Protection Environmental protection, or environment protection, refers to the taking of measures to protecting the natural environment, prevent pollution and maintain ecological balance. Action may be taken by individuals, advocacy groups and governments. ...
Area" ("Saros Özel Çevre Koruma Bölgesi") is , to the "Gökçetepe Nature Park" ("Gökçetepe Tabiat Parkı") around and to the "Mecidiye Pond
Drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...
Absolute Protection Area" ("Mecidiye Göleti içme suyu mutlak koruma alanı") about . The terminal covers an area of around . of earth was used for sea filling to gain an area of . An FSRU terminal has a different feature from other land LNG terminals. The storage and regasification service of LNG imported by
LNG carrier An LNG carrier is a tank ship designed for transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG). Overview The first oceangoing liquified natural gas tanker in the world was '' Methane Pioneer'', which entered service in 1959 with a carrying capacity of ...
s is provided by a ship called FSRU, which is permanently moored at the terminal pier. The FSRU has the ability to convert natural gas in liquid form stored in the FSRU tanks into gas form by using the existing
regasification Regasification is a process of converting liquefied natural gas (LNG) at −162 °C (−260 °F) temperature back to natural gas at atmospheric temperature. LNG gasification plants can be located on land as well as on floating barges, i.e. a Float ...
units. In addition to the -long pier, the Saros FSRU terminal consists of a
breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island, Antarctica * Breakwater Islands, Nunavut, Canada * ...
and a berth on earth filling for mooring of
tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...
s and
pilot boat A pilot boat is a type of boat used to transport maritime pilots between land and the inbound or outbound ships that they are piloting. Pilot boats were once sailing boats that had to be fast because the first pilot to reach the incoming ship ...
s. There is also a control building at the connection point of the pier to the shore. The depth of the sea at the pier is to allow the mooring of LNG carriers up to long and . The facility is connected to the national natural gas network system with a -long land pipeline to transfer natural gas to the Marmara Region, which has a significant portion of the country's natural gas consumption. The construction project is carried out by the
Limak Holding Limak Holding A.S. is a Turkish conglomerate, with major interests in construction, energy, cement, and tourism. Its assets include the Limak Cement and Limak Energy companies and the Limak Tourism Group. In 2022, it had around $2.5 billion reve ...
. The construction started in November 2020. BOTAŞ announced in November 2021 that the FSRU Terminal will go into service by the end of the first half of 2022. In mid-December 2022, the
Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources () is the government ministry of Republic of Turkey responsible for natural resources and energy in Turkey. The ministry is headed by Alparslan Bayraktar. Despite the ministry being represented on th ...
announced that the FSRUterminal will be commissioned in January 2023. It was added that negotiations for LNG import from
Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...
are continuing.


Environmental concerns

In the past, the region was declared a "Saros Special Environmental Protection Area" by the
Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change The Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change () is a government ministry of the Republic of Turkey, responsible for the environment, public works, and urban planning in Turkey. The ministry is headed by Murat Kurum. History The M ...
, and a "Gulf of Saros Culture and Tourism Development Zone" ("Saros Körfezi Kültür Turizm Gelişim Bölgesi") by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The gulf is habitat for 144 fish species, 78 species of
aquatic plant Aquatic plants, also referred to as hydrophytes, are vascular plants and Non-vascular plant, non-vascular plants that have adapted to live in aquatic ecosystem, aquatic environments (marine ecosystem, saltwater or freshwater ecosystem, freshwater ...
s and 34 species of
sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and a ...
s. Local people, working together as "Saros Volunteers Solidarity" ("Saros Gönüllüleri Dayanışma"), have been protesting against the FSRU terminal project, and a group of 1,038 residents filed a court case to stop the construction project. In the course of the court case, three separate expert reports were presented revealing that the project was contrary to many aspects of
civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...
,
agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
,
fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish far ...
,
geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
,
hydrogeology Hydrogeology (''hydro-'' meaning water, and ''-geology'' meaning the study of the Earth) is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rock (geology), rocks of the Earth's crust (ge ...
,
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
and
forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...
. The construction of the FSRU terminal project continued in the Gulf of Saros despite the court decision and the expert reports expressing negative views. Construction equipment entered the area without the knowledge of the landowner, and started working despite the last expert report stated that the local zoning plans were not in conformity with the planning principles and principles of
urbanism Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, a profession focusing on the design and management of urban ...
. By March 2020, the Administrative Court of
Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...
ruled that the FSRU terminal construction project in the Gulf of Saros was against the
public interest law Public interest law refers to legal practices undertaken to help poor, marginalized, or under-represented people, or to effect change in social policies in the public interest, on 'not for profit' terms ( ''pro bono publico''), often in the fields ...
and science, and cancelled the
Environmental impact assessment Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental impact, environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the te ...
(EIA) report ("Çevresel Etki Değerlendirmesi ÇED raporu") from 31 May 2018, which had a positive attitude for the construction. The legal attempts to stop the work did not yield any results. In June 2021, the court cancelled the EIA report a second time, and ordered
stay of execution A stay of execution ( Law Latin: ''cesset executio'', "let execution cease") is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is bei ...
. On 31 May 2022, "Saros Volunteers Solidarity", supported by the Keşan City Council, visited all political parties in the
Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...
in
Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...
, and presented a file. A parliamentary research proposal was submitted by the opposition parties on 15 June 2022 to "investigate the damage to people and nature in the Gulf of Saros caused by the BOTAŞ project". The parliamentary research motion was rejected by the votes of the ruling party AKP and its supporting party MHP. According to environmental organizations, more than ten thousand trees were cut down in the forest area as a -long land pipeline was laid. They claim that the mud produced during the construction of the terminal pier killed the aquatic plants on the seabed, and used oil from the construction equipment polluted the sea. They are concerns that it will not be possible to clear up an
LNG spill A liquefied natural gas (LNG) spill can happen during an accident or an intentional act. LNG is normally stored and transported in liquid form at a temperature of approximately . If this cooled liquid is released from a storage facility, pipeline, ...
in the still and shallow waters of the gulf in the event of pipeline leaks. It is feared that an eventual explosion at an LNG carrier may have serious consequences. Leaked LNG from the vessel can catch fire, and could spread to the forest on the shore. The terminal is situated in a first-grade earthquake zone, and is about close to the Ganos Fault, which could produce an earthquake greater than .


See also

*
Botaş Dörtyol LNG Storage Facility Botaş Dörtyol LNG Storage Facility () is a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Hatay Province, southern Turkey. It is the country's second floating LNG storage facility after the Egegaz Aliağa LNG St ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botas Saros FSRU Terminal Proposed liquefied natural gas terminals Proposed energy infrastructure in Turkey Natural gas in Turkey Buildings and structures in Edirne Province Keşan District Botaş