Gas flow to increase in Turkey

Increasing winter fuel demand from Turkey and Iran which was recently disrupted by technical problems is set to increase again, according to company and Turkish officials.

Gas flow into Turkey from Azerbaijan and Iran dropped to a daily 6-7 million cubic metres (mcm) from the usual 40 mcm, which left the country out of stock to face dropping temperatures from the winter freeze. Most of Northern Turkey is experiencing temperatures in the minus degrees, which has upped the demand in gas flow. 

Some 75 million people were left vulnerable during the technical glitch at Shah Deniz platform in Azerbaijan. The plant, operated by BP, stopped late on Monday after a malfunction during maintenance work and resumed on Wednesday afternoon.

The unusually low temperatures have seen daily gas consumption surge in Turkey from around 171 mcm a year ago to 192 mcm. Turkey imports 6.6 billion cubic metres of gas per year from Azerbaijan, around 16 per cent of its consumption. It imports around 10 bcm from Iran, which makes it Turkey's second largest supplier after Russia, according to Reuters.

Posted by Lauren Steadman