Turkey's daily natural gas consumption reached a record high of 274 million cubic meters (mcm) on Monday, Jan. 18, according to data compiled from Turkey's Petroleum Pipeline Company (BOTAŞ) on Tuesday.

The country beat its previous record made on Jan. 8, 2019, when consumption totaled 245 mcm.

Natural gas consumption countrywide increased both due to the rapidly falling temperatures and a rise in household gas consumption with time spent at home increased due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and lockdowns.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez, regarding the consumption record, said: “Thanks to the measures we take to ensure our natural gas supply security, we welcomed a record increase in consumption without any interruption or delivery cuts.”

Natural gas inflow to Turkey's gas network saw a year-on-year increase of around 6.38% to 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2020, compared to 47 bcm in 2019.

As Turkey's natural gas export volume is relatively low, total consumption is expected to be close to the inflow volume.

In 2017, Turkey saw the highest inflow level in the country's history of 53.86 bcm.

Dönmez, in a written statement, said that the daily gas supply capacity of the system increased to 339 mcm with liquefied natural gas (LNG) and Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) projects along with the work to increase storage capacity to ensure natural gas supply security.

Emphasizing that Turkey has a developed infrastructure that can easily meet the daily consumption, including the peak times, the minister noted: “We continue our efforts to increase the daily gas flow to 400 mcm, which is our short-term goal. We aim to provide an uninterrupted and trouble-free energy supply to our nation with all our investments.