Total inflow to Turkish gas system up 6.38 pct in 2020

Natural gas inflow to Turkey's gas network saw a year-on-year increase of around 6.38 percent to 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2020, according to data from the Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ).

In 2019, around 47 bcm of natural gas was carried through the Turkish natural gas system.

As Turkey's natural gas export volume is relatively low, it is anticipated that total consumption will be close to the inflow volume.

In 2017, Turkey saw the highest inflow level in the country's history at 53.86 bcm.

Last year, the highest figure for natural gas inflow was seen in the month of January at 7 bcm and the lowest was in June with 2.22 bcm.

An increase in Turkey's gas consumption for 2020 is foreseen compared to 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic, which forced people to stay at home and raised gas consumption for cooking and heat.

Turkey's gas network has expanded with additional gas provision to 31 more regions to cover 581 settlements in total.

By the end of 2020, the number of subscribers reached approximately 17.5 million - the population equivalent of 70 million, and the country's natural gas storage capacity reached 3.84 bcm.

Turkey imports gas via pipelines from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran. In 2019, Ankara imported 15.2 bcm of gas from Russia, 9.56 bcm from Azerbaijan and 7.74 bcm from Iran. The remaining 28 percent came in the form of LNG.

For 2020, the share of LNG is expected to be over 20 percent, as lower LNG prices and abundant surplus supplies contributed to the rise in its share.