Gas in Turkey

[2][3] The country consumes 50 to 60 billion cubic metres of this natural gas each year,[4][5] nearly all of which is imported.

[19] Some analysts say that Turkey does not have enough gas storage or alternative supplies to resist pressure, and that when Russia says it is closing a gas pipeline for maintenance (for example a 10-day shutdown of Bluestream in 2022 at 2 days notice) this is sometimes intended to apply political pressure.

[22] Turkey's state-owned oil and gas exploration and production company TPAO hopes to explore for oil and gas in Libyan waters:[23] a memorandum of understanding was agreed with Libya but later suspended by a Libyan court.

[24] Turkey opposes some gas exploration by the Republic of Cyprus because of the Cyprus–Turkey maritime zones dispute.

[27] In 2022 the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used missiles to strike a house belonging to Baz Karim Barzanji, a businessman working on a new pipeline, reportedly because he had met American and Israeli officials there.

Turkey intends to increase the share of renewables and nuclear power in the national energy mix.

[33] According to a May 2022 report from thinktank Ember, solar and wind saved 7 billion US dollars on gas imports in the preceding 12 months.

[37] In neighbouring Iran electrification, for example with heat pumps, away from gas has been suggested to improve earthquake resilience.

[41][42] South Akcakoca Sub-Basin (SASB) is a small gas field also in the Black Sea.

[44] Turkish Black Sea reserves are estimated at a trillion cubic metres:[45] gas will be piped to Filyos for processing to make it suitable for the gas grid,[46] with peak production of 40 billion cubic metres (bcm) targeted for 2026.

[5] Turkey's long-term contracts with Russia are due to expire at the end of 2025 [citation needed] so the natural gas import bill is expected to fall during the late 2020s (from 2024 estimated 320 dollars per thousand cubic m[51]) and also due to the start of production from Turkey's part of the Black Sea.

[65] LNG is imported from several countries including Egypt,[66] Algeria, Oman,[67] and the United States.

Over 80% of the population, and all provinces in Turkey, have access to natural gas,[10] which supplies half of household final energy.

[69] In 2021 consumption share included 27% households, 35% electricity production, 29% industry and 8% service sector.

[2]: 139  Peak demand is typically in mid-winter, averaging almost 300 million cubic metres (mcm) each day,[44] and the Chamber of Engineers said in 2022 that there was not enough storage.

[70]: 15–16  All industrial and commercial consumers, and households buying over 75 thousand cubic-meters a year can switch suppliers.

Blue Stream, a major trans-Black Sea pipeline, has been delivering natural gas from Russia to Turkey since 2003.

[86] LNG can transit to Bulgaria, but there have been complaints that the deal is against EU free market rules.

[90] In 2021 Hungary's MVM Group and Gazprom signed a 15-year contract for 3.5 bcm to be supplied via Turk Stream and the Transbalkans pipeline, and in 2022 Hungary agreed 0.7 bcm per year more gas from Russia via Turk Stream.

[119] In 2023 Vitaly Yermakov, Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies wrote: "Until 2022 Gazprom sales to Turkey were subject to oil-indexation, but at the end of 2021 this was replaced by hub indexation.

"[91] He also said that Turkey's negotiating power with Russia for gas discounts is greater than it was before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

[120] In late 2022 Turkey was reported to have asked Russia for a discount on gas,[121] but prices are expected to remain high until the end of 2024[122] or 2026, with the 2023 price estimated by Bloomberg at around 500 USD per thousand cubic metres (compared to 300 for Russian sales to China) only slightly falling to 2026.

[126] Exploration for gas in the Eastern Mediterranean is subsidised,[127][128] and is a cause of geopolitical tension because of the Cyprus dispute.

Because gas-fired power stations can usually ramp up and down quickly they are one way of ensuring supply at times of peak demand.

The government says the purpose of capacity market payments is to secure national electricity supply.

[20] Bosphorus Gaz, Bati Hat and Kibar Holding applied to import from Russia through the 6 bcm a year Trans-balkan pipeline in 2022, but the agreement for BOTAŞ to import gas through that pipeline ended that year.

[134] In 2022 the Turkish Energy Minister said that Turkey and Algeria would create a joint oil and gas exploration company.

Medium-sized ship viewed from starboard. Painted mostly red with the Turkish crescent and star in white near the bow. Above the bow is a helicopter deck and there is a large derrick amidships. Two small cranes are built into the side of the ship.
The Kanuni has drilled in the Black Sea . [ 1 ]
Energy consumption by source
Primary energy supply is about a quarter each from coal, oil, gas, and other sources. In 2021 gas consumption was higher than ever before at 59 bcm. [ 12 ] : 14
Graph shows carbon dioxide emitted by coal, oil, and natural gas over the years from 1990
Emissions from gas have increased, but remain below coal and oil.
Gas imports of Turkey
Electricity generation by gas (dull yellow) increases when hydropower (blue) falls due to drought.
Gas from Russia is mostly consumed within Turkey, but some transits to other countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, [ 72 ] Slovakia [ 73 ] and Moldova. [ 74 ] Some gas from Azerbaijan is bought by the EU. [ 75 ]
Seven middle aged men in dark suits stand behind a large white horizontal pipe. There is a large TANAP logo behind them and six of them are holding the large red valve wheel protruding up from the pipe
Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline inauguration in Eskişehir in 2018 ( Rovnag Abdullayev - president SoCAR, → Mustafa Akıncı - President of Northern Cyprus, → Ilham Aliyev - President of Azerbaijan, → Recep Tayyip Erdoğan - President of Turkey, → Petro Poroshenko - President of Ukraine, → Aleksandar Vučić - President of Serbia, → Berat Albayrak - Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey )
Most gas contracts expire before 2027. [ 100 ]