Turkey's gas imports up 14 pct in February 2021

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

Turkey's natural gas imports increased by 14 percent in February this year compared to the same month of 2020, according to the Turkish energy watchdog's data on April 27.

Natural gas imports increased to around 6.02 billion cubic meters (bcm) in February this year, from approximately 5.26 bcm for the same month of 2020, Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) said in its monthly natural gas market report.

In February 2021, the country imported 4.15 bcm of natural gas via pipelines, while 1.85 bcm was purchased as LNG, EMRA's data showed. This marked an increase in pipeline gas imports of 51.5 percent while LNG imports fell by 26.6 percent.

Russia was Turkey's top gas import destination, supplying 2.37 bcm of natural gas while Azerbaijan and Iran followed with 966 million cubic meters (mcm) and 808 mcm, respectively.

In February 2021, Turkey's gas imports from Russia and Azerbaijan grew by 113.6 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively while imports from Iran rose by 5.4 percent compared to the same period of 2020.

Turkey's total gas consumption increased by 2.3 percent to approximately 5.28 bcm in February 2021 from around 5.69 bcm in February 2020.

Household consumption decreased by 3.4 percent down to 2.68 bcm while the use of gas in power plants increased by 39 percent to 1.1 bcm during the same period.

Consumption growth in natural gas power plants, which generated more electricity due to drought and lower hydro capacity over the last few months, continues to boost imports.

The amount of natural gas in storage in February 2021 increased by 36.4 percent to around 2.61 bcm compared to about 1.91 bcm in February 2020.