Turkish gas demand hits record high

Turkey's gas consumption reached an all-time high yesterday over a cold spell, with the country planning to increase the system's daily delivery capacity.

Consumption hit 279.5mn m³ yesterday, up from 274.2mn m³ a day earlier, which had already surpassed the previous all-time high of 245mn m³ reached on 8 January 2019.

Istanbul and Ankara registered record-high demand yesterday, contributing 51.6mn m³ and 23.9mn m³, respectively. Overnight temperatures dropped to minus 6.2°C in Istanbul yesterday.

But demand could slip in the coming week, with overnight temperatures in Istanbul expected to rise above the seasonal norm from tomorrow until 27 January.

This would be similar to earlier in the month, with consumption averaging 197mn m³/d on 1-17 January, down from an average of 219mn m³/d over the whole month last year. Alongside mild weather, restrictions to contain the Covid-19 pandemic have cut into demand.

Turkey met yesterday's record increase in consumption "without any interruption or cuts" thanks to measures it took to ensure security of supply, energy minister Fatih Donmez said.

In order to ensure security of supply, daily gas delivery capacity to the grid from LNG facilities, the country's floating storage and regasification units and storage sites was increased to 339mn m³, Turkish state-owned Botas said. The firm said it would continue its efforts to lift daily delivery capacity further, targeting 400mn m³ "in the short term".

Botas delivers gas to around 70mn citizens under 17.5mn subscriptions, the firm said today.

Turkey's population that actively used gas increased by 3pc in 2019 to 52.3mn from 50.6mn in 2018, gas distributors association Gazbir said last May.

And demand from the power sector has climbed since July, after Botas substantially lowered its regulated tariffs. Power sector gas burn averaged 41mn m³/d on 1-17 January — the latest available data — up from 38mn m³/d in all of January 2020.

By Eleni Charisi