Khalid Sultan Al Kuwari, President of RasGas Marketing, announced that RasGas Co Ltd completed its first delivery to the Çolakoğlu Group's EgeGaz natural gas terminal on 30 April 2009. He described this shipment as a stepping stone towards a long-term partnership.
Qatar Gas Transport Company Limited, commonly known as Nakilat, is a Qatari shipping and maritime company. Al Kuwari highlighted the importance of strong customer relationships, citing RasGas, which is set to make its second delivery to EgeGaz on July 20th. He reiterated the Qatar Natural Gas Group’s commitment to expanding into new markets, saying “The first shipment aboard the Al Daayen LNG tanker is a promising start to what we believe will be a lasting and successful partnership with EgeGaz in the natural gas industry.”
Since 1993, RasGas has been steadily increasing its natural gas production and is now further boosting its capacity in natural gas processing and export through substantial investments. The Al Daayen natural gas tanker, chartered from the Canadian company Teekay by RasGas (which maintains a strong LNG fleet under long-term charter), completed its first delivery to the EgeGaz LNG Terminal in Aliağa.
Following the acquisition of its import license, the EgeGaz Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal was in a position to import its first shipment of natural gas into Türkiye, store it in its tanks, and market it for industrial use.
Having secured the Aliağa Organized Industrial Zone where it’s based as its first customer for Qatari natural gas, EgeGaz achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first private company in Türkiye to directly import LNG. Through regasification and subsequent supply to the national grid, EgeGaz has clinched its standing as a major player in the private natural gas market.
EgeGaz is expected to sell 70 million cubic meters of natural gas to the Aliağa Organized Industrial Zone by the end of this year. The company says it plans to increase this to 200 million cubic meters in 2010.
USD 7 bn line of credit
Committed to establishing the world's strongest LNG and natural gas tanker fleet, the Qatari gas shipping company Nakilat has successfully secured a USD 7 billion line of credit on top of an existing USD 1 billion loan. The finalized financing agreement enables Nakilat to add to its existing fleet another 25 natural gas tankers, currently being built at the South Korean Daewoo, Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Samsung Heavy Industries shipyards. It's also worth noting that even at the onset of the global economic crisis, the group was able to secure a USD 950 million loan from a consortium of 17 international and Qatari banks.
Of the 25 LNG tankers included in the project, 22 will enter service by the end of this year while the remaining three will be delivered by the end of 2010.
The Q-Flex (215,000 cubic meter capacity) and Q-Max (265,000 cubic meter capacity) natural gas tankers will be chartered by Qatar Gas for 25 years to serve the QatarGas 2 , QatarGas 3, QatarGas 4, and RasGas 3 export projects.
