Last year, natural gas distribution companies made ₺12 billion network and improvement investments in the country.
According to the information compiled by AA correspondent from the Turkish Natural Gas Distributors Association (GAZBIR) 2022 Sector Report, natural gas was supplied to 675 of 973 districts in Turkiye as of the end of last year.
While the population to which natural gas is delivered throughout Turkiye has increased to 70.2 million, the population with access to natural gas has been calculated as 82%.
The number of natural gas subscribers increased by 6.2% in 2022 compared to the previous year and reached 19.7 million. Turkiye is the third country with the highest natural gas subscribers in Europe.
GAZBIR predicts that the country will rank second in the number of subscribers in Europe in 2025, as the number of natural gas subscribers in European countries reaches saturation, potential subscribers become active in Turkiye in the coming years, and network investments continue.
While the city with the highest number of subscribers in Turkiye is Istanbul with 5.6 million, this city is followed by Ankara with 2 million subscribers, Bursa with 1 million 60 thousand subscribers, İzmir with 901 thousand 314 subscribers and Kocaeli with 695 thousand 541 subscribers.
₺57 billion will be invested in 2023-2026
Last year, ₺12 billion were invested by natural gas distribution companies, and a total of ₺80 billion have been invested so far.
It is planned to invest ₺57 billion in natural gas distribution in the 2023-2026 period and to provide gas supply to 209 new settlements.
Natural gas will be supplied to 89 new settlements this year, 44 next year, 24 in 2025 and 52 in 2026.
In the same period, 80 of the settlements will be transmitted by pipe gas and 129 by compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG). With the natural gas expansion investments planned to take place between 2023 and 2026, it is expected to reach a new population of 1.7 million.
Housing became the leader in natural gas consumption
Turkiye’s total natural gas consumption, on the other hand, decreased by 12% compared to the previous year and fell to 53.3 billion cubic meters.
The fact that the second half of the last year was warmer than the same period of 2021, the use of alternative energy sources instead of natural gas in electricity production and the decrease in consumption in the industry were effective in the decrease in natural gas consumption in Turkiye.
Last year, the sector with the largest share in natural gas consumption was residences with 34%. Natural gas consumption in residences increased by 8% compared to the previous year and reached 18.1 billion cubic meters.
Power plants accounted for 27% of the consumption. The share of the industry sector in total natural gas consumption was 25%, the share of the service sector was 11% and the share of the energy sector was 3%.
On a provincial basis, Istanbul was the city with the highest natural gas consumption with 8.35 billion cubic meters. Istanbul was followed by Ankara with 4.59 billion cubic meters, Izmir with 4.42 billion cubic meters, Kocaeli with 3.82 billion cubic meters and Bursa with 3.34 billion cubic meters.
Increased online transactions in applications
Of the 3.4 million subscription applications made last year, 642 thousand were made through online channels. The number of online subscription contracts made last year increased by 14% compared to 2021.
On the other hand, 860 thousand of the 2.2 million natural gas subscription termination applications made last year were made through online channels, and this figure increased by 19% compared to the previous year.
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz