Page 68 - TURKRptAug20

Speaking at a news conference, Pompeo said his department was updating public guidance for authorities under the 2017 Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act that could “put at risk” of US sanctions investors in the Nord Stream II pipeline running from Russia to Germany and a branch of the TurkStream pipeline running from Russia to Turkey via a Black Sea route.
TurkStream was opened by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on January 8. It directly connects large gas reserves in Russia to the Turkish gas transportation network, with the aim of providing energy supplies for Turkey and south and southeast Europe.
Turkstream has a total annual capacity of 31.5 bcm. The first line, with a capacity of 15.75 bcm, is designated for supplies to Turkey's domestic customers, and the second line, with the same capacity, is to carry Russian gas further onwards to Europe through Bulgaria, although there have been delays in rolling out the required Bulgarian pipeline infrastructure.
Iran has resumed the export of natural gas to Turkey three months after the cross-border pipeline between the two countries was damaged​ in a militant attack, Mohammad Askari, a spokesperson for the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) told IRNA on July 1, as ​cited​ by Rudaw.
Top Iranian officials raised concerns after Turkey failed to move quickly to repair the pipeline. Analysts speculated that Turkey was attempting to use the situation—which also saw it import much higher volumes than usual of cheaper liquefied natural gas (LNG)—to pressure Iran for a future price cut in gas supplied under contract.
The natural gas pipeline was damaged in an explosion that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) claimed was the result of an attack that it mounted. Turkey and Iran view the PKK as a terrorist group.
The flow of natural gas to Turkey via the pipeline has been interrupted around a dozen times since it became operational in 2001.
9.1.2 ​Automotive sector news
The combined sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV) soared 66.3% on an annual basis to some 71,000 units in June​, data from the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD) ​showed​.
Nearly 57,000 passenger cars were sold on the local market in the month, marking a sharp 58% rise from a year earlier while LCV sales soared 109% on an annual basis to 14,000 units.
In the first half of the year, Turkey’s auto market expanded at 30.2% y/y as more than 254,000 vehicles were sold in the country. Passenger car sales were up 30% y/y to 204,000 units and LVC sales also rose 30% y/y to 50,000 units in January-June.
Local banks, led by state-owned lenders, have been providing cheap loans in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in an effort to revive flagging domestic demand.
Data from the banking regulator BDDK showed that auto loans grew to TRY8.3bn ($1.2bn) as of June 26 from TRY7bn at the end of May.
The ODD predicts that total auto sales will be between 600,000 and 650,000 units this year.
68​ TURKEY Country Report​ August 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com