Page 7 - MEOG Week 03 2023

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Report tallies combined

volume of gas transiting Turkey

TURKEY 97.3BN cubic metres (bcm) of gas has to date Caspian is not an insignificant challenge.
been delivered through two major Turkish pipe- Turkish officials have referred to using swap
lines according to Turkish state news service arrangements and/or a combination of a pipeline
Anadolu Agency. and ships. There is an existing three-way agree-
Launched on January 8, 2020, TurkStream, ment signed in December 2021 under which
running across the Black Sea from Russia, has Turkmenistan would supply 1.5-2bcm per year
so far transited 26.75 bcm of gas to Turkey and of gas to northeastern Iran, which is gas short,
30.55 bcm to Europe. In 2022 alone, the num- with the same volume to be transited from gas-
bers were 8.6 bcm and 12.5 bcm for Turkey and rich northwest Iran to Azerbaijan. According
Europe, respectively. to Al-Monitor, the deal enables Azerbaijan to
Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline export more gas to Europe via TANAP. The swap
(TANAP), inaugurated in June 2018, carried deal could be expanded.
5.8 bcm of gas last year to Turkey, while Europe Laying a major pipeline across the Caspian
received 11.3 bcm of gas through the pipeline in from Turkmenistan’s main gas fields would
2022. be extremely costly but there is a proposal
Since the pipeline started operations, a total for a 48-mile (77km) pipeline put forward by
of 20.5 bcm of gas has been transported to Tur- US-based company Trans Caspian Resources
key and 19.5 bcm to Europe via TANAP, the data (TCR) that would carry gas from Turkmeni-
compilation showed. stan’s Banka Livanova gas field to Azerbaijan’s
Last year, Turkey was reported to be work- Azeri Chirag Gunsehli (ACG) group of assets,
ing on plans to bring in gas from Turkmenistan, from which other pipelines could take the gas
likely for onward export to Europe, and began onshore to Azerbaijan for transit to Turkey. TCR
transiting gas via neighbouring Bulgaria at least has claimed that its pipeline could be completed
on a test basis. If delivered to Azerbaijan, Turk- in as little as a year and carry up to 12bcm per
men gas could reach TANAP, but crossing the year of gas.™

Iranian oil exports record

major increase in late 2022

IRAN IRANIAN oil exports climbed to new highs in action against Iran’s oil exports [from the Biden
the last two months of 2022, according to com- administration],” Sara Vakhshouri of SVB was
panies that track crude shipments. cited as saying, adding: “January exports were so
They are also making a robust start to 2023 far strong like previous months.”
despite US sanctions still in place that are meant “Lower Chinese demand and Russia’s supply
to drive Iranian oil of export markets. Shadow to China have been a major challenge for them.
sales to China plus shipments to Venezuela, like Most of its oil still goes to the Far East, ultimately
Iran under heavy US sanctions, appear to be China. Iran also helps Venezuela to export its
driving trade. Iran has been helping Venezuela oil,” said Vakhshouri.
resurrect its refining industry. Consultant Petro-Logistics, which also tracks
Energy consultant SVB International was oil supply, said its assessment was that in Decem-
cited by CNBC as saying Iran’s crude exports ber Iran’s crude exports hit their highest level
in December averaged 1.137mn barrels per day since March 2019.
(bpd). That was up 42,000 bpd from Novem- Data intelligence firm Kpler estimated Ira-
ber. It was also the highest 2022 figure SVB has nian crude exports at 1.23mn bpd in November
logged based on estimates given earlier. and just below 1mn bpd in December.
“In comparison to the Trump administra- Iran’s draft state budget is based on shipments
tion, there hasn’t been any serious crackdown or of 1.4mn bpd.™

Week 03 18•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P7