Drive to diversify threatens Gazprom’s Turkey hopes

摘要

Gas demand in Turkey — an important market for Russia and Azerbaijan — is forecast to rise by 5.3pc this year, even as the government seeks to limit dependence on imports and substitute domestically produced coal and nuclear power in the energy mix. Demand will rise to 47.6bn m~3 from 45.2bn m~3 in 2012, according to fore- casts by Turkey’s energy regulator. Consumption has more than doubled from 22.3bn m~3 in 2004, growing in every year except 2009, when the global financial crisis sparked recession in Turkey. If the growth trend contin- ues, demand could hit 60bn m~3/yr in the near future, the director of state-run gas importer Botas, Mehmet Konuk, said in Ankara on 15 May.