Turkish gas imports fall 24.43% YoY in August
Turkey's gas imports in August totalled 3.034bn m³, down 24.43% on the year and down 16.5% on the month, as consumption fell by 18.4% on the year and down 19.6% on the month according to data released October 30 by Turkish energy regulator EPDK.
The fall came despite consistent high summer temperatures across most of Turkey resulting in high air conditioning use, and high power demand which normally leads to a higher gas burn.
The fall is believed to be due to a sharp hike in gas for power prices announced July 31 by state gas importer Botas which accounts for over 80% of Turkey's gas imports, as power distributors turned to other sources of generation.
Botas hiked gas prices by 49.5% from August 1 in response to a series of sharp falls in the Turkish lira which at its lowest point had fallen by 40% against the US dollar since the start of the year.
The state importer had been obliged to sell gas for below cost for most of the year ahead of Turkish general elections scheduled for June. The fall in imports was not evenly distributed between Turkey's various suppliers.
Imports from main supplier Russia were reported as 1.465bn m³, down 35.7% on the year with imports from Iran reported as 0.487bn m³, down 44.2% on the year.
Conversely Azeri imports were reported as 0.636bn m³, up 88.4% Yoy, an increase which may partly be explained by the start of imports via the TANAP gas pipeline, commissioned in July and which is slated to supply 2bn m³ during its first year of operation.
Turkey's LNG imports were reported as 0.447bn m³, down 15.25% on the year with contracted imports from Algeria stated as 0.314bn m³, with an additional spot cargo of 0.133bn m³ imported from Qatar.
State importer Botas imported 2.506bn m³ during August, down 24.0% on the year with eight private importers importing 0.528bn m³, down 26% YoY.
The fall confirms the continuing problem faced by the seven Turkish companies which import Russian gas by pipeline to meet the commitments of their take or pay contracts with Gazprom, and whose imports reached only 0.395bn m³ in August down 37.1% on the year.