Page 12 - MEOG Week 01 2021

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Russia remained Turkey’s largest supplier by 1% to Turkish lira (TRY) 1,264 ($170) per
with 11bcm, or a 27% share of the market (34% 1,000bcm for homes and to TRY1,414 ($190)
in 2019), followed by Azerbaijan with 9bcm, or for industry and power plants. Turkey’s energy
27% (21% in 2019), and Iran with 3bcm, or 9% watchdog also hiked electricity prices by 6% for
(17% in 2019). all types of consumers.
Turkish gas imports from Russia slumped by In July, Botas cut natural gas prices for indus-
more than a third last year to 15.5bcm in 2019. In try and power plants by between 9.7% and 12.5%
January-October, they declined further by 12% after natural gas plants were hit with trouble due
y/y to 11bcm. In January-October 2020, some to their long-term gas supply contracts and the
65% of natural gas was transferred through pipe- fall in electricity prices amid the pandemic.
lines (72% in 2019), while the market share of Electricity production at natural gas plants fell
LNG was 35% (28% in 2019). to 1,537GWh, or 8% of Turkey’s total produc-
In the LNG category, Algeria was the largest tion, in April before rising to 8,293, or 32%, in
supplier with 5bcm in January-October 2020 November.
(5.7bn in 2019), while Nigeria came second with As of November, natural gas plants had the
2bn (1.2bn in 2019). Natural gas consumption in highest share of 25,641MW (27% of total capac-
Turkey dropped 8% y/y to 45.3bcm in 2019. In ity), down from 25,654MW in April, in Turkey’s
January-October 2020, it rose 3% y/y to 37bcm. overall 94,801MW installed electricity genera-
In January-October 2020, residential units’ tion capacity, up from 91,565MW in April.
consumption accounted for some 32% of all gas Natural gas had the largest share of 30.5% in
consumption (32% in 2019), while the share of Turkey’s 84,957 MW of installed electricity pro-
power plants was 27% (21% in 2019), or 10bcm, duction capacity in 2019. In January-November
up 15% y/y. 2020, gas plants produced 60,423GWh of elec-
On January 1, Botas hiked natural gas prices tricity, or 22% of total production.™

Iraq to supply fuel oil to

Lebanese power plants

LEBANON IRAQ has reached an agreement in late Decem- commercial electricity users reliant on genera-
ber to provide Lebanon with fuel oil supplies tors. Blackouts became more common last year
to cover the needs of its outage-stricken power because of the dispute with Sonatrach.
stations. Lebanese authorities accused the Algerian
Lebanon declared in August it wanted to firm of supplying adulterated, low-quality fuel,
diversify its fuel oil imports beginning in 2021, although the company denied this. The dispute
following a dispute with its top supplier, Algeria’s led to supply disruptions, causing outages at Leb-
state-owned Sonatrach. The country’s contracts anon’s power plants.
with both Sonatrach and Kuwait’s KPC expired Sonatrach secured its supply contract with
at the end of December. Lebanon in 2005 and it was renewed five times.
The deal with Iraq followed a meeting While the deal was presented as a state-to-state
between Iraq’s Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar arrangement, the responsibility for supplies was
and his Lebanese counterpart Raymond Ghajar in fact subcontracted to private firms.
in Baghdad on December 21. Lebanese Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar
While Iraq lacks the refining capacity to meet said in August that the government would hold
its own needs for light fuels such as gasoline and a tender for fuel oil purchases in 2021, offering
diesel, its fuel oil production exceeds demand. three-year contracts.
Fuel oil volumes to Lebanon will be “limited and The contest is yet to take place, however. In
to be announced later,” the Iraqi ministry said. mid-December, Ghajar offered assurances that
Lebanon also began receiving Iraqi gasoil last there would be no shortages of fuel oil in the new
year, which is also used as feedstock at its elec- year.
tricity stations. “There will not be darkness in Lebanon,” he
The country has suffered from severe power said, noting that there were at least four solutions
shortages for years, with many residential and for obtaining supplies. ™

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