Turkey's natural gas imports decreased by 25.8% in April 2020 compared to the same month of 2019, according to Turkish energy watchdog's data on Thursday.
Natural gas imports decreased to 2.63 billion cubic meters (bcm) in April last year, from 3.55 bcm for the same month of 2019, Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) said in its monthly natural gas market report.
The country imported 1.38 bcm of natural gas via pipeline, while 1.24 bcm was purchased as LNG in April 2020, EMRA's data showed. Pipeline gas imports dropped by 51.5% while LNG imports increased by 81.2% in the same period.
Azerbaijan was Turkey's top gas import destination with the supply of 916 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas while Russia and Algeria followed with 470 and 353 mcm, respectively.
In April, Turkey's gas imports from Azerbaijan grew by 26.4% as the volume of Russian imports fell by 68.5% compared to the same period last year.
Turkey's spot LNG imports from the US increased by 242.5% reaching 288 mcm from 84 mcm during the same period last year.
- Consumption down by 20%
Turkey's total gas consumption decreased by 20% to approximately 3.16 bcm this April from around 3.98 bcm in April last year.
Household consumption grew by 2.5% to reach 1.67 bcm while the use of gas in power plants was down by 53.2% to 241 mcm during the same period.
The amount of natural gas in storage in April decreased by 3.5% to 1.42 bcm from 1.47 bcm in April last year.
By Nuran Erkul Kaya
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr