Turkey hits historic LNG import record in Jan. '19

By Muhsin Baris Tiryakioglu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's monthly LNG imports reached a historic record high at 2.34 billion cubic meters (bcm) in January 2019, according to Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority's (EMRA) data.

LNG's share out of January's natural gas imports exceeded 40 percent for the first time, official information gathered by Anadolu Agency (AA) reveals.

Turkey aims to become a natural gas trading center in its region, and to this end, the country is expanding its pipeline network and the number of its LNG regasification facilities.

The new monthly LNG import record was despite a decrease in the country's total natural gas imports in January.

Turkey's total natural gas imports fell by 6.54 percent in January to 5.81 bcm compared to the same month of 2018, according to EMRA's monthly natural gas market report.

The country imported the bulk of LNG from seven countries, namely Algeria, Nigeria, the U.S., Qatar, Egypt, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago. The remaining natural gas imports came via pipeline from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan.

- Record LNG imports from US and Azerbaijan

Turkey imported 460 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas as LNG from the U.S. in January, greatly surpassing the previous import record made in November 2017 of 196 mcm.

The amount of natural gas imported via pipeline from Azerbaijan also marked a milestone with 808 mcm, the volume of which increased since June 2018 when the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) was launched.

In January, Turkey reduced its share of natural gas imports from Russia. Turkey's natural gas imports from Russia decreased by 35 percent in January 2019 compared to the same month last year, which totaled 1.8 bcm, representing 31.62 percent of Turkey's total natural gas imports.