Turkiye Should Prepare for LNG Boom, Increase Exports: IEA
-
Sulaiman
- . December 30, 2023
- . Update: December 30, 2023 6:25 pm
The International Energy Agency anticipates LNG production boom in 2025 brought on by commission of new facilities in many countries.
Fatih Birol, head of IEA, believes Turkiye can benefit from the global liquefied natural gas production boom. He said possible deals can be reaped before the hand of gas importer countries become stronger, that is, after 2025. The expert advised that Turkiye use its vas gas infrastructure to increase gas imports for export to Europe.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Europe is a region that is in great of LNG supplies. The EU and its member states, before the invasion of Ukraine, had long-standing dependence on Russian natural gas. Russian pipelines, according to LNG Industry, supplied over 40 percent of Europe’s natural gas. Now, Europe is sourcing alternative supplies of gas.
Turkiye Can Go Big on LNG
Turkiye wants to emerge as a key gas hub in the region, strengthen its foothold as an exporter and an efficient manager of the gas it provides. It has seven international natural gas pipelines, five LNG facilities, including three floating storage and regasification units, and two underground natural gas storage facilities. And this year, Turkiye signed gas supply agreements with Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Moldova.
Birol said Turkiye can move toward its objective by diversification of sources. “If a country has a serious dependence on another country in all areas of energy, I think diversification may be a wise policy.” The IEA executive is supportive of nuclear energy as an indispensable technology for Turkiye. He believes Ankara should look into the constructing more nuclear power plants.
Turkiye already has the Akkuyu plant; upon completion of all four units, the plant will have the power generation capacity of 35 billion kilowatt-hours.
Keep Reading
Turkiye is Strategic Partner of GCC States
Turkiye Celebrates 100th Anniversary, Starts New Chapter
LNG Demand to Increase
According to a S&P Global report, demand in Turkiye for LNG is expected to rise in the first two months of 2024 as supply from Iran and North Africa may be affected because of cold weather. Moreover, demand and imports are expected to rise further in Turkiye to feed domestic heating requirement needs.
Turkiye also has a LNG supply deal (sealed back in 1988) with Algeria between Turkish government-backed energy company Botas and Algerian state-owned oil and gas company Sonatrach. Turkiye will buy 4.4 bcm of LNG from Algeria annually.
