Page 75 - TURKRptOct19

9.0 Industry & Sectors 9.1 Sector news
9.1.1 Oil & gas sector news
Turkey imported 21mn tonnes of oil in 2018, of which 1.8mn tonnes came from Saudi Arabia.
New pipeline supplies from Azerbaijan factor in Russian gas deliveries to Turkey falling 36% in H1. Turkey’s gas imports from Azerbaijan surged 43% in the period following the launch of BP’s Shah Deniz II gas field in the Caspian Sea and the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) run by Azerbaijan’s Socar last year, according to data from Turkey’s energy market authority EDPK.
Low LNG prices, driven down by sluggish spot demand in Asia and rising gas output particularly in the US, as well as the expansion of gas output and pipeline capacity from Azerbaijan, has helped some nations in southeastern Europe diversify suppliers, Reuters reported on September 6 after assessing latest export data from Russia’s Gazprom.
Turkey imported 8.1 bcm from Gazprom in the first half of this year, down from 12.7 bcm a year earlier. Its reliance on Russian supplies fell to 35% of its needs from 49%
Gulmira Rzayeva, a research associate at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, was quoted by the news agency as saying one factor pushing Turkey’s Botas gas pipeline operator to reduce its reliance on Gazprom was the strict terms in the Russian firm’s contracts that prevented gas being sold on to other buyers. That requirement limits the Turkish state energy firm’s bid to turn Turkey into a regional gas hub, she said.
“The Russian contract has a destination clause, the Azeri deals from Shah Deniz stages 1 and 2 don’t,” she said.
Turkey’s LNG imports rose 12% in the first six months to 4.92mn tonnes, equivalent to about 6.7 bcm, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Ankara is also in talks with Sofia to supply any extra gas it receives from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria, Rzayeva said.
75 TURKEY Country Report October 2019 www.intellinews.com