Gov’t works to slash gas prices in Turkey: Minister

ANKARA

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The Turkish government has been working on a plan to cut natural gas prices amid the global energy plunge, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak said on Jan. 27. 

“In the light of global decline in gas prices following an increasing trend, we have started to work to reflect this declining trend both on national grid BOTAŞ’ gas prices and consumer prices in the short-term,” Albayrak said in a televised interview with NTV, as quoted by Reuters. 

Turkey had faced a dramatic rise in gas costs earlier due to the skyrocketing prices in global markets. 

“We had subsidized these costs for a long time so as to not reflect these price hikes to our citizens,” he said. 

He added the current decline in gas prices would be reflected to consumers soon. 

The Brent Oil price recently declined to $30, although it had traded at around $115 in June 2014. Oil prices have dropped over 20 percent even over this year. BOTAŞ’ purchasing costs were revised after six to nine months of changes in global gas prices.