Natural gas imports down nearly 21 percent

ANKARA

Türkiye’s natural gas imports declined by 20.6 percent on an annual basis to 3.4 billion cubic meters in September, the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) has said.

Gas imports via pipelines fell by 14.4 percent to 3.1 billion cubic meters, while LNG purchase dropped 55 percent to 295 million cubic meters.

Russia was the largest supplier of natural gas at 1.5 billion cubic meters or 45 percent share in total imports. Natural gas imports from Russia, however, declined 23 percent in October from a year ago. Türkiye reduced its gas import from Iran, the second largest supplier, by 3.8 percent to 854 million cubic meters.

Imports from Azerbaijan also dropped 3.7 percent to 710 million cubic meters, while natural gas deliveries from Algeria fell 26 percent to 297 million cubic meters.

In the first nine months of 2022, Türkiye imported 41.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas, a 3 percent decline from the same period of 2021.

Domestic natural gas consumption amounted to 3.2 billion cubic meters in September, down nearly 22 percent from a year ago. Households consumption increased by 2.5 percent on an annual basis to 312 million cubic meters, while the industry sector reduced its use of natural gas by 19 percent to 1.03 billion cubic meters.

Power plants used 1.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the month, down 28.6 percent from September 2021.

There were 3.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas in storage, up 36 percent from a year ago.

The EPDK separately reported that Türkiye’s total oil imports rose by 9.2 percent year-on-year in September to 4.38 million tons, with crude oil imports increasing nearly 5 percent, 2.99 million tons.

Türkiye imported 1.3 million tons of crude oil from Russia, while Iraq ranked second 1.08 million tons. Crude imports from Kazakhstan amounted 262,000 tons.