A British Petroleum (BP) spokesman announced Friday that the Azeri supply, which had been interrupted due to technical difficulties at the Shah Deniz field at the beginning of the week, was again reaching Turkey by Thursday night. Production at the site had resumed earlier Thursday.
The flow of natural gas to Turkey was also reduced due to technical difficulties experienced at the Azerbaijani and Iranian compressor stations responsible for transporting the gas. The total flow of gas from both Iran and Azerbaijan on Tuesday was down to around 6 million cubic meters a day from a normal 40 million cubic meters. Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız assured the public there would not be a shortage of natural gas to residential or industrial areas. Responding to reported rumors in Turkey suggesting the drop in gas supply was intentional, Yıldız answered, “These are unfair to our Azeri and Iranian counterparts and negatively affect our relationship with them.” He added, “We don't believe the reduction of the flow of natural gas is intentional.”
Spokesman for the National Iranian Gas Company Majid Bucarzade also announced Friday that Iran is ready and willing to increase the volume of its natural gas exports to Turkey. According to Iran's Mehr News Agency, Bucarzade said Iran already sends Turkey 30 million cubic meters in natural gas exports per day. He indicated that discussions with Turkish officials are underway and if the Turkish pipelines have the capacity, the export volume will increase. Bucarzade also noted that despite extreme weather conditions in Iran and a reduction in the volume of natural gas imported from Turkmenistan, there is no expectation of shortages to Iran's domestic gas supply.
Meanwhile, Turkey decided at the end of January to take Iran to an international arbitrator over Iran's unwillingness to lower the “unfairly high” gas prices it charges. Turkey insists Iran bring down the price to match international market rates, which sit at around $400 per cubic meter. Iran sells its gas to Turkey for $505 per cubic meter, increasing Turkey's natural gas bill by an extra $800 million annually. Turkey currently buys Azeri gas for $330 and Russian gas for $400 per cubic meter.
Turkey's current natural gas consumption is 192 million cubic meters per day, above the seasonal average due to particularly cold weather the country has seen in the past few weeks. Last year, Turkey's winter natural gas consumption averaged 171 million cubic meters per day.
