Turkey's gas importing company Botas has temporarily suspended gas imports from Iran because of a technical problem in a pressure boosting station in Turkish territory.
According to Iran’s Oil Ministry, there was a leakage in the pipeline that transfers gas to Turkey that was fixed in Bazargan in West Azarbaijan Province on Thursday, but then Botas announced that there was a technical problem in one of its pressure boosting stations, due to which it would not able to receive gas from Iran over the next few days, ISNA reported.
Botas’s decision has added to Ankara's winter woes, as demand for gas outpaces supply.
Following the incident, Turkey ordered gas-fueled power plants to slash gas use by 40% until further notice.
Turkish natural gas distributors were asked to reduce supply to 60% for large consumers except for gas used for heating, Turkish officials said, adding that schools and hospitals will be exempt.
A 10-day cut to natural gas flows is expected but talks are ongoing to start flows earlier, the officials added.
Turkey is almost fully dependent on imported gas from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran.
Turkey buys around a quarter of its 40 billion cubic meters of piped natural gas a year from Iran, making its eastern neighbor the second biggest supplier after Russia. Natural gas is used for almost half of Turkey's electricity generation.
The National Iranian Gas Company uses the ninth Iran Gas Trunkline (IGAT-9) with a length of 1,900 km to transfer gas from Asalouyeh, Bushehr Province, to Bazargan district in the northwestern province of West Azarbaijan, which then extends into Turkish territory.
Energy prices have risen sharply in Turkey, driven by global increases and a 44% decline in lira's value against the dollar last year.
Electricity prices were raised as much as 125% for high-demand commercial users this month and by around 50% for lower-demand household.
Natural gas prices jumped 25% for residential use and 50% for industrial use in January, national distributor Botas said. The price rise was 15% for power generators.
Istanbul Chamber of Industry Chairman Erdal Bahcivan said industrialists had to shoulder the biggest burden of rising costs in recent months and it was unacceptable that industry should now have to pay a price in terms of supply.
"This decision will hit our exporters' sectors and cause very serious production and planning stress for our factories," he said in a statement.
"The problem facing our industrialists from the supply front will undoubtedly have a negative impact on productivity, output quality, delivery and many other areas."
