Minister Dönmez Evaluated Natural Gas Prices

Minister Dönmez evaluated natural gas prices. Dönmez answered questions about the energy agenda in the live broadcast of NTV.

Fatih Dönmez, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, participated in the live broadcast of NTV. Answering questions about the energy agenda in the broadcast, Minister Dönmez also talked about the natural gas prices. Reminding that Turkish Stream and TANAP were commissioned in natural gas, Dönmez said, "In addition to the Blue Stream in the Black Sea, pipelines from Azerbaijan and Iran, we also added two floating LNG terminals to these. Natural gas is used in underground storage. On the other hand, we have a storage capacity of just over 4 billion. The storage facility is mostly full, we will be full next month. There is no technical problem in this sense." Reminding that private sector organizations, especially BOTAS, held talks with relevant countries within the scope of existing contracts for gas imports, Dönmez said: "There is also an increase in demand for natural gas. Last year, we consumed approximately 48 billion cubic meters of natural gas. There will probably be 10 billion cubic meters more consumption this year. There is an increase in demand for natural gas for two reasons. First of all, this year is a dry year, so the electricity we generate from hydraulics has decreased relatively. In order to balance this, natural gas power plants were operated more. Secondly, a serious capacity utilization rate has been achieved in the industry. You know, export data also supports this right now. With the increase in demand there, there is an additional demand of approximately 8-10 billion cubic meters. We will meet some of this year's natural gas demand by supplying LNG from existing contracts. We will get through this year without any problems if the suppliers comply with the shipping schedules."

There Is An Increase In Cost

Stating that there was a 6 percent increase in natural gas in the first 6 months and an 18 percent increase in total, 12 percent in July, on the basis of households in Turkey, Dönmez said, "In electricity, there was an increase of 6 percent in January and 15 percent in July. Not all of the costs incurred are reflected to households, small consumers and tradesmen. For natural gas and electricity, this is almost half. In other words, the state pays half of the bill. Practices will continue in this framework." Reminding that the scale mobile system was introduced two years ago, Minister Dönmez said, "A mechanism has been developed so that price increases in oil prices and products are not directly reflected on the pump. The government actually sacrifices tax revenues. For this year alone, this sacrifice amounted to 52 billion liras. The income that was supposed to be collected from SCT was left to the citizens. By the end of the year, this figure will increase even more. The Eşel mobile system is also in effect, and we will continue to support our citizens in this context."