According to a tender document posted on its website, Botas is inviting companies to submit pre-qualification applications for the procurement of two 174,000-cbm LNG carriers.
“The applicant shall demonstrate that, within the last five years, it has constructed at least five LNG carriers, each having a cargo tank capacity of not less than 150,000 cbm,” the company said.
Moreover, the applicant “shall demonstrate that it carries out shipyard operations in the Republic of Korea and is actively operating,” Botas said.
“Upon the pre-qualification evaluation, only those applicants who are found to be qualified shall be invited to submit tenders,” it said.
Botas noted that the LNG cargo containment system of the vessel will be of membrane type, either GTT No.96 or Mark III.
Moreover, the vessel will be fitted with a latest-generation 2-stroke, low-pressure gas injection, reversible, dual-fuel main engine, primarily arranged for LNG fuel operation with diesel fuel as back-up.
Botas said that the deliveries of the vessels “shall be considered as a non-price evaluation criterion and shall be proposed by the tenderers.”
The pre-qualification application deadline is April 28.
Turkiye boosting LNG capacity
Botas operates the onshore Marmara Ereglisi LNG import terminal.
In addition, the company operates the Dortyol facility, which features the Botas-owned 170,000-cbm FSRU Ertugrul Gazi, the first Turkish-flagged FSRU vessel, and the FSRU-based Saros terminal.
Earlier this year, Turkiye’s energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar said the country plans to install a second floating storage and regasification unit at the Dortyol facility in the southern province of Hatay and another FSRU in the Mediterranean.
In December last year, Bayraktar said at a conference in Istanbul that Turkiye has increased its LNG regasification capacity fivefold since 2016, reaching 161 million cubic meters per day, as part of its plans to boost energy security, while the country is also working to become an LNG supply hub.
He said that Turkiye signed LNG supply agreements for 106 billion cubic meters last year.
These deals include the 10-year deals Botas signed to buy LNG from Italian energy firm Eni and German gas importer SEFE.
