Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Ä°brahim Akbal stated that, as a reflection of the investments made and the diversification of energy sources, despite the peak natural gas consumption of Sm3/day 280 million, the system continued to flow without difficulty. The EPÄ°AÅž organized wholesale market reached the highest match amount with Sm3.18 million on February 18, 2021; he noted the importance of these two record developments.

In 2020, YaÅŸar Arslan, vice president of the Turkey Natural Gas Council, evaluated natural gas consumption on the basis of pandemic conditions, investments and user breakdowns.  Emphasizing that the consumption of natural gas in houses increased by 7% compared to 2019 to reach 15.4 billion cubic meters in 2020, Arslan said that the share of housing consumption in total natural gas consumption will increase in the coming years due to the increasing number of subscribers with the network investments made every year. Emphasizing that the growth in the natural gas market continues with the support of the continuous spread of the natural gas market, Arslan stated that LNG has a 31% share in Turkey's natural gas supply profile for 2020.

At the meeting, where the global and local natural gas market were evaluated together with alternative energy sources, a presentation on the Futures Natural Gas Market, which will be launched in October, was made by Dr. Bagdagül Kaya Caner, Head of the Network Operation Group of EPDK Natural Gas Market Department. Mr. Caner stated that our country has taken an important step towards becoming a natural gas trade center with the implementation of the Futures Natural Gas Market, with the introduction of the market, liquidity will increase, the predictability of the price can be ensured and the risk of the other side will be minimized.

BOTAŞ Natural Gas Business and Market Operations Regional Manager Murat Önde gave information about entry points, investments and improvement works in his assessment for the period 2020-2021. He stated that the amount of consumption falling with the impact of the pandemic at the beginning of 2020 increased with the recent recovery, and that there was an increase of around 3.5% in the amount of inflows and exits in January-February 2021, and that peak consumption reached its peak with 280 million sm3 in the period up to mid-March 2021. Stating that the maintenance of compressor stations is underway, Önde stated that there has been a significant decrease in the amount of greenhouse gas emissions at compressor stations at certain points in the transmission system.

MEDREG Deputy Secretary General Hasan Özkoç said the pandemic had a profound impact on global energy markets, during which the period saw the biggest drop in demand since the second world war. Giving detailed assessments of world energy demand and production sources, Özkoç stated that with the development and spread of renewable energy and green hydrogen technologies in global markets, oil and coal consumption will decrease gradually in the period up to 2050, while natural gas will remain its place as transition fuel for many years in this process.

Also at the meeting, TOBBUYUM A.Ş General Manager Dr. Onur Yüksel gave a presentation on mediation activities.