Turkey's Gas Imports Fall Sharply in November
Turkey imported 4.696bn m3 of gas in November, down 13.82% year on year, with demand down 21.44% at 4.097bn m3 according to data released January 31 by the regulator EPDK.
The sharp fall in both imports and demand during November continues the trend set by the price hikes introduced at the start of August. However November's changes were a lot more abrupt than in previous months and also than the average for the first 11 months of year which saw imports fall by 10.04% and consumption by 9.56% respectively.
This appears both to confirm that Ankara remains wedded to its policy of cutting imports and reducing its trade deficit, aided by the milder winter.
Power generators have been using 35% less gas year on year, down to 1.363bn m3; and the main power plant used 1.093bn m3, down 44.81% on November 2018.
CCGT operators complain that the 49.5% price hike in August means they cannot compete with other generators, so some plant only operate a third of the time, and not profitably.
Turkey continues to take more from Azerbaijan, despite overall imports falling, and overall imports by pipeline under long term contracts also falling, by 10.17%. Azeri imports in November were reported as 0.746bn m3, up 29.7% on November 2017; a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, Turkey received more gas from Azerbaijan last year and this will rise in the coming few years. Imports from Iran via the Iran-Turkey pipeline were reported as 0.839bn m3 up 6.28% following a fall of 18.7% in October.
However imports from Russia were 2.047bn m3, down 24% on November 2017, perhaps connected with the continuing problems of Turkey's seven private gas importers who have contracts with Gazprom, and who have been unable to sell sufficient gas to meet their take-or-pay requirements.
Imports by the seven were down 22.2% overall with individual falls of between 6.0% and 39.2%, and only one importer, Bati Hatti reported importing more, and that by only 1.6%. Botas' Russian imports were reported as 1.407bn m3 down 24.2% on the year.
Total LNG imports for November were reported as 1.063bn m3, down by 24.3% on the year. Most were delivered under Botas' long-term contracts with Algeria and Nigeria which respectively supplied 0.501bn m3, up 23% year on year; and 0.212bn m3 up 98%. Imports from regular spot supplier Qatar were reported as 0.259bn m3 down 38% year on year, with a single cargo reported from the US, compared with two in November 2017.