Turkey signs a 20-year LNG mega deal to accelerate diversification away from Russian gas dependency and towards energy diversity.

Turkey's state-owned energy company BOTAS signed a 20-year liquefied natural gas import agreement with Swiss trader Mercuria Energy Group, which is the largest scale contract in a series of recent new contracts. Turkish Energy Minister Alpaslan Bayraktar stated that starting from 2026, the company will import about 4 billion cubic meters of American-produced liquefied natural gas to its domestic market, as well as to Europe and North Africa. This import volume is equivalent to about 8% of Turkey's annual demand, but the agreement includes mentions of other markets, indicating that some supply will be used to support BOTAS's international trade layout. These agreements are the latest supplements to a series of liquefied natural gas contracts signed by Turkey earlier this month at an international gas technology exhibition, marking the country's push towards diversifying import sources and gradually reducing its reliance on long-term pipeline gas suppliers Russia and Iran.