Turkey's annual natural gas consumption reached a historic record high of 53.5 billion cubic meters in 2017, according to Turkish energy watchdog data on Wednesday.
In 2017, the year-on-year natural gas consumption in Turkey jumped by 16.3 percent, Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority's (EMRA) Natural Gas Market Report for December 2017 revealed.
Total consumption increased from which a rise of 19.2 percent in natural gas imports was seen to reach 55.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2017 from 46.3 bcm in 2016, according to EMRA's data.
The latest records in 2014 showed 48.7 bcm in consumption and imports of 49.2 bcm.
The boost in natural gas consumption and the correlated imports were fueled by greater electricity demand. Moreover, due to the production decline in hydroelectric power plants in 2017, Turkey increased production of natural gas combined cycle plants.
In 2017, electricity production facilities consumed 19.8 bcm of natural gas, 24 percent more than the previous year.
According to EMRA's data, the share of electricity production in Turkey's natural gas consumption increased from 35.5 to 37.1 year-on-year in 2017.
- A decrease in the share of Russian gas in total gas import
Turkish natural gas imports from Russia increased by 16.7 to 28.6 bcm in 2017. However, the share of Russian gas in Turkey's total natural gas import decreased to 51.8 percent in 2017 from 52.9 percent in 2016.
Turkey also imported natural gas from other countries including Iran with 9.2 bcm and Azerbaijan with 6.5 bcm.
The number of Turkish natural gas subscribers increased by 1.1 million to 13.6 million in 2017, the data shows.
By Muhsin Baris Tiryakioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr