Yaşar Arslan, President of the Association of Natural Gas Distributors of Turkey (GAZBİR), told AA correspondent that with the diligent work of approximately 10 thousand personnel, domestic natural gas will be brought to consumers in a short time and will be processed in the Filyos Natural Gas Processing Facility and made ready for use.
Pointing out that the actual capacity of the transmission and distribution network in Turkey has reached a level to meet the maximum natural gas demand thanks to the investments made in the last 10 years, Arslan said that the length of the natural gas distribution network in Turkey will be over 180 thousand kilometres by the end of 2022.
Stating that domestic natural gas will be delivered to consumers through the existing distribution network after being introduced into the system, Arslan said: "Domestic natural gas will be used in households as soon as possible. According to the initial planning of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, domestic natural gas will meet consumers in May. This development is a milestone for the energy market of our country."
Emphasising that natural gas is approximately 2-3 times cheaper than alternative fuels such as coal and LPG for both heating, hot water and cooking purposes, Arslan said that the annual natural gas cost of a household in 2022 was around 6 thousand liras.
Stating that it is possible for this amount to be lower with the prediction that the cost of domestic natural gas will be lower compared to market prices, Arslan said, "Considering that the average natural gas consumption in May will be 50 cubic metres per household and the average residential price of natural gas will be 6.15 liras in May, a total of 5.9 billion liras of bills of approximately 19 million 200 thousand subscribers can be covered by the state with Black Sea gas."
"The annual natural gas import bill could decrease by 8-9 billion dollars at today's prices"
Pointing out that the market value of the discovered 710 billion cubic metres of natural gas is over $500 billion, Arslan emphasised that since natural gas prices are highly volatile in international markets, the economic value of the discovered gas will reflect positively on Turkey's import bill for many years in any case.
Analysing the natural gas price movements in global markets, Arslan stated that the price of TTF, the Netherlands-based virtual natural gas trading point with the highest depth in Europe, was around $500 per 1000 cubic metres on April 19 and made the following assessments:
"According to open source data, Turkey's import cost was between $1000 and $1200 per 1000 cubic metres in the second half of last year, while it was in the range of $500 to $600 on average in the first two months of 2023. With the increase in the production capacity of Black Sea natural gas in the coming period, Turkey's annual natural gas import bill is expected to decrease by around 8-9 billion dollars at today's prices. In terms of production cost, it is very difficult to calculate the cost since many factors such as geological characteristics of the resources from which domestic natural gas is extracted, field infrastructure, drilling and production technologies affect the costs. It is not possible to share precise data at the moment, but in general, the production cost of domestic natural gas will be lower than imported natural gas under current conditions. The fact that the amount of natural gas discovered is high and its cost is lower than imported natural gas makes our country stronger in terms of energy strategy."
"It will make a great contribution to the goal of becoming a natural gas trade centre"
Stating that natural gas market stakeholders are continuing their infrastructure investments without slowing down in order to establish a trade centre in Turkey, Arslan said, "Sakarya Natural Gas Field will make a great contribution to Turkey's goal of becoming a natural gas trade centre with its reserve size and projected production capacity."
Arslan stated that it is foreseen to produce 10 million cubic metres of natural gas per day with 10 wells drilled in 2023 in the first phase, and 40 million cubic metres of natural gas per day with the completion of drilling in 40 wells in 2026-2027 at the plateau value in the following period:
"Considering that natural gas consumption is around 300 million cubic metres on the days when demand is at its peak, it is seen that with the use of production gas, 5 percent of the daily natural gas need in the short term and 10 to 15 percent in the medium-long term can be met from domestic natural gas. In the plateau period when the production amount will reach 40 million cubic metres, it will be possible to meet approximately 30 percent of Turkey's annual natural gas demand and a significant portion of the annual heating, hot water and cooking needs of residential subscribers."
"It will reduce foreign dependency to a great extent"
Stating that 53.3 billion cubic metres of natural gas was consumed in Turkey last year and that this figure is expected to be around 50-60 billion cubic metres in the coming years, Arslan said
"Our country has the infrastructure and facilities to process and deliver up to 100 billion cubic metres of natural gas to the system. With proper planning and efficient use, we can be in a position to export natural gas to neighbouring countries in the coming years. This will be very beneficial for our country to reach our goal of becoming a natural gas trade centre, which is among our future goals. The natural gas discovery in the Sakarya field is 710 billion cubic metres. For 35 years, this discovery will meet the natural gas needs of all residences, and when we include the industry, it will meet the total natural gas need for 15-20 years. As a result, large-scale natural gas investments such as the Sakarya Natural Gas Field Development Project will greatly reduce Turkey's dependence on foreign gas."
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