Turkey hits all-time gas consuming record

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Suburban trains are seen at an Istanbul station under snow that reigned the city.

Turkey broke its all time natural gas usage record on Jan. 10, with 187 million cubic meters used across the country due to the cold weather.

Noting that the average daily usage last year was 170 million cubic meters in January and 164 million cubic meters in February, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said there was no supply shortage.

“However, we care about a saving culture in natural gas consumption, like any other field,” the minister told Anatolia news agency.

Around one-fifth of the consumption is in Istanbul and its surrounding area, and was largely down to the cold weather that brought life to a standstill in many cities.

The consumption is at its highest in the industrialized Marmara region, which also hosts Istanbul.

Turkey buys most of it gas from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan, as well as more moderate amounts of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Algeria and Nigeria. The country generates around half of its power needs from natural gas. It is in talks with Qatar for the building of an LNG facility in the Marmara region.