Iran Replaces Russia in Turkey / Turkey's Gas Market Shifts

Turkey's gas market saw significant changes in August.

The data of the body overseeing the Turkish energy field showed that the country's natural gas import in August decreased by 32.7% compared to the same period last year and reached about 2.8 billion cubic meters, and at the same time, the import of crude oil and petroleum products increased by 2.3% to 4.5 million tons. Contrary to the general trend of reducing gas imports, Iran increased the volume of gas sent to Turkey through the pipeline by 9.1% compared to last year and reached 916.3 million cubic meters. Iran's share of Turkey's total natural gas imports reached 33%, which is an increase compared to the 20.4% share in the same period last year.

22% decrease in gas consumption in Turkey

By sending 752.4 million cubic meters of gas through the pipeline, which was a 28.2% decrease compared to August last year, the Republic of Azerbaijan became the second natural gas supplier to Turkey. The supply of gas from Russia decreased by 60.6% and reached 723.1 million cubic meters with a sharper drop, and Russia's share of Turkey's total imports dropped from 44.5% to 26.1%.

Türkiye also imported 383.8 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Algeria, an increase of 28.5 percent compared to August last year. America, which exported 100.5 million cubic meters of gas to Türkiye in August last year, did not export any natural gas to this country in August this year.

Türkiye's natural gas consumption in August decreased by 22% compared to the same period last year and reached about 2.7 billion cubic meters. Of this amount, 1.1 billion cubic meters were consumed in the industry sector, and the energy conversion sector (including electricity generation) consumed 886 million cubic meters of gas. The consumption of the domestic sector also reached 326 million cubic meters.

At the end of August, Türkiye had 5.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas in its storage tanks. Of this amount, 5.5 billion cubic meters were stored in underground facilities and the remaining 304 million cubic meters were stored in liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.

An increase in oil imports at the same time as a 35% drop in exports

The import of crude oil and oil products of Türkiye reached 4.5 million tons in August, with a growth of 2.3% compared to August last year. Crude oil imports reached 2.8 million tons with a decrease of 1.1%, while diesel imports increased by 9% to 1.2 million tons.

Russia topped the list of suppliers with 1.3 million tons, followed by Iraq with 553,812 tons and Saudi Arabia with 335,622 tons.

According to Türkiye Today, the export of oil products decreased by 34.8% to 793 thousand 364 tons. Aviation fuel exports fell by 18.2 percent and reached 527,263 tons, while diesel exports dropped by 88.7 percent to 25,778 tons. Marine fuel exports increased by 4.1 percent to 61,435 tons, and gasoline exports increased by 10.4 percent to 10,126 tons.