State gas and pipeline agency Botas plans to invite construction tenders by the end of the year for two liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals at Aliaga near Izmir and Iskenderun in the southeast, according to a senior Botas source.

Belgium's Tractebel with the local Parmas is preparing studies for the complexes (MEED 30:5:97, Cover Story; 28:2:97). The two LNG complexes will each have a regasification capacity of about 6,000 million cubic metres a year (mcm/y). Their combined cost is estimated at $900 million.

Botas will also be seeking investment partners - preferably the LNG suppliers - to reduce its share of the costs by 15-25 per cent, said the source. The Aliaga project may be integrated with a build-operate (BO) power station, according to Energy & Natural Resources Ministry officials (see above).

Talks with British Gas about supplies of about 6 mcm/y from new discoveries in Egypt were due to start in Ankara at the end of July, officials add. Imports of about 10 mcm/y from Egypt - from concessions operated by the US' Amoco Corporation and the local affiliate of Italy's Agip - are already expected to start in the third quarter of 1999. Botas has not yet decided whether the gas will be imported as LNG or via a proposed pipeline.