Turkiye Secures More Gas Supplies From Azerbaijan To Meet Growing Demand

SOCAR Enerji Ticaret AS, a subsidiary of Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR, will supply Turkiye with 4 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas in February, having won the bid on the spot pipeline gas capacity reserve issued by Turkiye's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) on Wednesday.

Turkiye needs to meet growing gas demand due to the extreme cold weather and to compensate for lower gas supplies from Iran. Iran confirmed that it would not send natural gas to Turkiye between Jan. 21 and Jan. 31 due to a technical malfunction on the main pipeline.

Turkiye has been implementing gas cuts to the industrial sector specifically in industrial zones and in natural gas power plants to ensure a favorable, supply-demand balance in the system.

At present, the gas flow to the country totals around 270 mcm, out of which the TurkStream gas pipeline transmits 44 mcm, the Blue Stream pipeline supplies 47 mcm, the Trans Anatolia Natural Gas Pipeline is responsible for 17.3 mcm, the spot market agreement with Azerbaijan covers 7 mcm, and the country's underground gas storage facilities provides around 45 mcm.

Turkiye secures the remaining capacity through its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and floating LNG facilities.

Daily natural gas consumption reached a record high of around 288 million cubic meters on Wednesday, Jan. 19, according to data compiled from the state-owned crude oil and natural gas pipelines and trading company, BOTAS.

Natural gas curtailment to combined gas power plants also led to a drop in electricity generation, which generally accounts for around 35% of total power generation. -