Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) has recently granted separate licenses to Shell and Turkish private gas company Aygaz for the export of natural gas from Turkey to Europe.

Following the approval from EMRA, the number of gas export licenses issued to companies reached 14, according to Anadolu Agency (AA).

"In addition to the rising number of gas-exporting companies, we will see a capacity increase at Kipi Export Point, where natural gas is exported to Greece from Turkey," EMRA officials said.

New investments toward capacity increase at Kipi Export Point will provide new opportunities to companies like Shell and Aygaz, EMRA said.

Turkey aims to become a natural gas trading hub in its region, and to that end, the country is expanding its pipeline network and the number of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification facilities.

Greece currently offers the only gas export route from Turkey, through where the country has re-exported Azerbaijani gas since 2007, meeting almost one-third of Greece's annual natural gas demand.

The TurkStream project, which would carry Russian gas to Turkey across the Black Sea, will also open up new gas export options.

Turkey has four pipeline entry points and five LNG regasification facilities, but with the TurkStream project coming online, the volume of daily natural gas imports is set to rise from 271.5 million cubic meters to 334 million cubic meters.

"With the completion of the TurkStream natural gas pipeline, the contracts of the Russia-Turkey Natural Gas Pipeline [West Line] will be transferred to TurkStream. Thus, the Malkoçlar Natural Gas Import Entry Point [Pressure Reducing and Metering Station] can provide a two-way flow of gas exports between the European natural gas systems with Turkey as a second point," EMRA officials explained.

The country's average natural gas consumption is 148 million cubic meters per day but can increase to 245-240 million cubic meters per day under cold winter conditions.