Turkey Cuts Gas Imports in H1
Turkey imported 23.287bn m3 gas during the first half of 2019, about 10.3% less than 1H2018, state energy regulator Emra reported September 2. However the overall reduction hides the 14.7% increase in LNG imports which reached 6.8bn m³. Bought on spot prices, it was cheaper than mostly oil-indexed pipeline gas, where the stronger oil price of late last year affected second quarter gas prices. Pipeline imports accordingly fell 18%.
The biggest drop came from Russian gas: at 8bn m³, it was over 2.5bn m3 less than it took in the same period last year.
According to the report, consumption also declined by 2.26% to 25.22bn m3.
Turkey's underground gas and LNG storage reserves declined from 3.24bn m3 in 1H18 to 2bn m3 in 1H19. Turkey’s gas transit to Greece also increased by 5% to about 378mn m3.