Azerbaijan will be supplying additional natural gas to Turkey in February to meet its increasing demand amid harsh winter conditions, in a move that comes after neighboring Iran cut supplies last week.
SOCAR Enerji Ticaret AŞ, a subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, will supply Turkey with 4 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas per day in February, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
The company has won the bid on the spot pipeline gas capacity reserve issued by Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) on Wednesday. The gas will be supplied through the Türközü entry point in the eastern province of Ardahan.
Turkey needs to meet growing gas demands due to the extreme cold weather and compensate for lower gas supplies from Iran.
Iran last week announced it would pause gas exports to Turkey for 10 days, citing a technical malfunction. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late Wednesday said full gas flow from Iran was expected to return in 10 to 15 days.
The sudden stoppage in the flows through the eastern Ağrı province has forced Turkey to limit gas use and cut electricity supplies for industrial sites, prompting some manufacturers to halt production.
Compounding the gas concerns, the country’s natural gas consumption hit a record high of around 288 million cubic meters (mcm) on Jan. 19, as household use rocketed due to colder-than-normal weather, according to state-run pipeline company BOTAŞ.
The daily gas flow to Turkey stands at around 270 mcm, out of which the TurkStream gas pipeline transmits 44 mcm, the Blue Stream pipeline supplies 47 mcm and the Trans Anatolia Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) is responsible for 17.3 mcm.
The spot market agreement with Azerbaijan covers 7 mcm, while the country's underground gas storage facilities provide around 45 mcm. Turkey secures the remaining capacity through its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and floating LNG facilities.
Turkey is almost fully dependent on imported gas from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran. According to the latest official data, Iran alone provided 16% of Turkey’s natural gas needs in the first 10 months of 2021. The neighbor had been supplying 28 mcm of gas per day.