Turkey to import spot gas from Iran for 1st time

From December 1, Turkey will import 5.5 million cubic meters of spot gas per day from Iran for the first time at the Gurbulak natural gas pipeline entry point, the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) said, Report informs via Anadolu Agency.

Two companies, Oil Refinery Center Petrol and Petrol Products Import Export Limited, have received the right to order a total of 170 million cubic meters of spot gas through the Gurbulak natural gas pipeline in December

At a time when gas prices are rising rapidly in global markets, Turkey aims to supply more profitable gas by importing spot gas from the Iran-Gurbulak and Azerbaijan-Turkgozu entry points.

EPDK had previously allowed the import of spot gas from Azerbaijan for the period 2022-2024. Turkey signed an agreement with Azerbaijan to purchase an additional 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline, which will be valid until the end of 2024.

At present, an agreement is in force with Turkey on the annual transportation of 6 billion cubic meters of gas under Phase 2 of the Shah Deniz field. In addition, a new contract has also been signed. According to the new one, 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas will be transported annually from Shah Deniz's Phase 1 by the end of 2024.

Until April 16, 2021, the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Turkey was carried out on the basis of contracts under the "Phase 1" and "Phase 2" development of the Shah Deniz field. However, on April 16, the gas purchase agreement with BOTAS under Phase 1 expired, and the supply was carried out only on the basis of the Phase 2 agreement.