Page 38 - TURKRptJun21

Since January, the Turkish government has been hiking local natural gas prices for households by 1% each month, with the hike so far applied across five months to May.
Consequently, prices for homes reached TRY1,315 ($159) per 1,000 cm in May from TRY1,264 in January. Prices for industry reached TRY1,471 from TRY1,414 in January.
For May, the gas price for electricity plants was hiked by 12%. As a result, the price reached TRY1,631 from TRY1,1414 in January.
The government is still subsidising natural gas prices, albeit it stopped direct sales to Botas from the central bank at end-2020.
Despite the subsidies, natural gas and electricity prices in Turkey have doubled since 2018, even according to official data provided by national official statistics agency TUIK.
The prices referred to are naked unit prices for gas and electricity. They do not include the increases in a series of taxes and service payments in bills.
In July 2020, Botas cut natural gas prices for industry and power plants by between 9.7% and 12.5% after natural gas plants were troubled by long-term gas supply contracts and the fall in electricity prices amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In Q1, natural gas plants’ share in Turkey’s overall electricity production rose to 29% from 23% in 2020 as a whole.
Natural gas plants’ share in Turkey’s overall installed capacity, meanwhile, declined to 26% at end-March from 27% at end-March.
On April 29, TASS reported that Russian gas deliveries to Turkey were up 106% to over 7bcm in Q1.
In 2020, Russia remained Turkey’s largest gas supplier with 16bcm, 34% of Turkey’s overall 48bcm of gas imports. Exports to Turkey, Gazprom’s fourth largest market, were down 6% y/y.
Starting from July, distribution companies will be able to apply to Turkey’s energy watchdog EPDK for permission to blend hydrogen into Turkey’s distribution network, Mehmet Serif Sarikaya of local gas distributors association Gazbir said on April 12.
Turkey’s natural gas consumption rose 7% y/y to 47.7bn cubic metres (bcm) in 2020, making the country the world’s seventh largest gas consumer.
Turkey’s natural gas imports stood at 48 bcm. Russia was the top supplier of gas to Turkey last year, sending 16.2 bcm. Some 30% of Turkish gas imports were in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG). LNG arrived from countries including the US, Qatar, Norway, Algeria and Nigeria.
Households’ natural gas consumption showed a 7% y/y increase in 2020, moving up to 15.4 bcm, with the average household consumption totalling 964 cm.
Natural gas consumption at combined gas power plants increased by 21% in 2020, while industrial gas consumption rose by 3%.
Households accounted for 32.3% of all natural gas consumed, power plants 28.6% and the industrial sector 26.7%. The remainder was used by the services sector and other institutions.
38 TURKEY Country Report June 2021 www.intellinews.com