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since March 31 after an explosion said by Turkish officials to be the result of a sabotage attack by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)—would be finished and that gas flows would be reinstated. ​Cavusoglu did not comment on the pipeline​.
The PKK has attacked the pipeline several previous occasions, with subsequent repairs then completed within a few days. The failure to repair the pipeline promptly on this occasion has sparked speculation that Turkey is stalling repairs to pressure Iran to improve terms under which Turkey imports gas. State gas importer Botas, meanwhile, has been importing cheap spot LNG cargoes in place of Iranian and Russian gas.
Turkey's deputy energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar told a conference in Istanbul in February that Turkey planned to use the availability of cheap spot LNG to persuade its long-term gas suppliers to lower their prices, S&P Global Platts reported.
Ten days ago Iran's NIGC said Tehran rejected Ankara's claim that the explosion was a force majeure event. The company said it expected gas flow to be restarted on June 21 at the earliest.
Turkey imports gas from Iran under an agreement signed in 1996 for up to 10 bcm/year until July 2026. It commenced in 2001 and was later reduced to 9.6 bcm/year.
Turkish gas importers have racked up a $2bn debt to Russia’s Gazprom​, sources ​told​ the Wall Street Journal on June 15, after failing to meet payments under their take-or-pay contracts.
Take-or-pay contracts require buyers to pay for a set amount of gas regardless of whether they actually take that much. Turkish gas demand has seen significant decline in recent years amid an economic slowdown, warmer weather and the government’s drive to bolster the use of domestic coal in power generation. The country’s Russian imports have seen particularly heavy decline, as a slump in LNG prices has made the super-cooled gas much cheaper than piped imports.
According to the WSJ, Turkey’s seven private gas importers purchased less than 15% of the 10bn cubic metres they agreed to buy last year. Their take-or-pay contracts require them to pay for at least 70% of the contractual amount, but they have not done so.
Turkish gas imports from Russia slumped by more than a third last year to 15.5 bcm, Gazprom data shows. Most of this gas was bought by state importer Botas. The decline has been even more pronounced this year, with Gazprom’s sales to the country plunging 72% year on year in March, according to the latest statistics published by Turkish energy regulator EMRA. Gazprom consequently lost its position as Turkey’s top supplier, with its share of the market shrinking to 9.9% from 32.6%. Replacing Russia in the top spot was Azerbaijan.
Turkey’s unpaid debts to Gazprom have put the country in a precarious position. In the past the Russian supplier has used such debts as leverage to consolidate its control of a market, by acquiring infrastructure and other gas businesses, or in exchange for political concessions.
Turkey’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports in March were higher than the country’s pipeline gas imports​, data from the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) showed on May 28.
Turkey imported 2.06bn cubic metres (bcm) of LNG in March, accounting for 52.5% of total gas imports, with US supplies markedly growing, according to
57​ TURKEY Country Report​ July 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com