Turkiye’s spot gas imports increased by 145% compared to the previous year and reached approximately 18 billion 890 million cubic meters.
According to the data compiled by AA correspondent from the “Natural Gas Market Sector Report for the Year 2022” of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA), the amount of spot gas in Turkiye’s natural gas import portfolio increased significantly last year.
Spot gas accounted for approximately 18 billion 890 million cubic meters of Turkiye’s total natural gas imports of 54 billion 661 million cubic meters last year. In 2021, the amount of spot gas imports was recorded as 7 billion 705 million cubic meters. Thus, spot gas imports increased by 145% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Of the said spot gas, 8 billion 980 million cubic meters of pipe gas and approximately 9 billion 909 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) were imported by sea.
Approximately 6 billion 321 million cubic meters of spot pipe gas was supplied from Russia and 2 billion 659 million cubic meters from Azerbaijan.
Among the countries where spot LNG is imported by sea, the USA ranked first with approximately 5 billion 641 million cubic meters. The USA was followed by Egypt with 2 billion 231 million cubic meters and Nigeria with 818 million cubic meters. Of the remaining amount, 364 million cubic meters were imported from Trinidad and Tobago, 195 million cubic meters from France, 193 million cubic meters from Russia, 107 million cubic meters from Oman, 96 million cubic meters from Angola, 90 million cubic meters from Equatorial Guinea, 88 million cubic meters from Indonesia and 85 million cubic meters from Qatar.
“BOTAS gained experience in spot gas imports in recent years”
Nusret Comert, Chairman of Damnus Energy and Investment Inc., stated in his assessment to the AA correspondent that Pipelines and Oil Transport Inc. (BOTAS) increased its spot pipe gas purchases due to the fact that the private sector did not renew its spot import contracts to a large extent.
Comert stated that natural gas used to be priced with the long-term oil index, but later on, the prices in the Netherlands-based virtual natural gas trading point TTF began to be taken as a basis. In my opinion, when hub prices went up considerably during the Russia-Ukraine crisis, BOTAS restrained the gas price increase in its portfolio with oil-indexed LNG imports.”
Comert said that BOTAS has gained experience in spot gas imports in recent years and will keep the spot gas import option on the agenda to ensure price optimization.
Pointing out that Turkiye aims to ensure supply security and resource diversity in natural gas, Comert noted that spot gas imports have been increased in order to take advantage of the flexibility of LNG terminals and to take precautions against possible disruptions in natural gas imports from Iran in winter.
Regarding Turkiye’s spot gas imports in the coming years, Comert said, “I think that spot LNG imports and partly spot pipeline gas will increase. I think that spot LNG imports may increase with the development of the infrastructure, the use of full capacity LNG and gasification terminals and the commissioning of new ones.”
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz