Turkey's gas consumption decreases 6 pct in 2018

By Murat Temizer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's natural gas consumption decreased year-on-year by 6 percent to around 50 billion cubic meters in 2018, according to official figures from Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) on Friday.

Turkey's natural gas consumption declined because of the consistent above-average temperatures in the first half of 2018.

The country's natural gas consumption saw a record high in 2017 with 53.85 billion cubic meters.

Last year, the highest figure for natural gas consumption was in the month of January with 6.35 billion cubic meters and the lowest was in the month of June with 2.85 billion cubic meters.

In January 2018, the country also broke a record in natural gas imports, exceeding 6 billion cubic meters for the first time on a monthly basis. This was due to reduced production at hydropower plants, which was compensated by higher production in gas fired plants.

- 2019 starts with record high gas consumption

Turkey's daily natural gas consumption reached a historic record high at 245 million cubic meters on Tuesday, Jan. 8, according to Turkey's Energy Minister Fatih Donmez late on Wednesday.

The country beat the previous record made on Feb. 14, 2017 when consumption totaled 243 million cubic meters.

According to Donmez, extreme cold conditions in January triggered an increase in gas demand.

"Thanks to the measures we have taken to ensure our natural gas supply security, we have met this record increase without any downtime or cuts," Donmez said.