Turkish gas demand hits all-time highs

: Natural gas
25/02/26

Turkish gas consumption has soared to record highs in recent days, supported by heating demand, gas-fired generation and new grid connections, but weather forecasts suggest that demand could fall in the coming weeks.

Daily consumption in Turkey has set several records this month, including an all-time high of 333.7mn m³/d on 24 February, grid operator Botas said on Wednesday. Daily consumption has repeatedly surpassed 300mn m³/d in recent weeks, with volumes exiting the grid averaging 287mn m³/d over 1-25 February, Epias transparency platform data show.

Those figures are well above the averages for February of 199mn m³/d last year and 230mn m³/d in 2023. Turkish gas demand totalled 14.2bn m³ on 1 January-23 February, up from 11.4bn m³ a year earlier and 11.6bn m³ in the same period in 2023, based on ministry data factoring in production, imports and the use of storage.

As in neighbouring Greece, where demand hit a record high earlier this week, cold weather has been a strong demand driver this year, as gas is widely used for space heating in Turkey. Temperatures have frequently been below 10-year averages in parts of the country, with lows in Istanbul and Izmir holding below zero since 21 February and minimum temperatures in Ankara falling as low as -14°C on 24 February, when daily consumption was the strongest on record.

Homes and non-industrial businesses have accounted for 44pc of overall demand this year, while industry has made up 31pc and gas-fired power plants 25pc, according to the energy ministry.

A distribution network expansion may have also supported demand. The Turkish grid grew last year to provide access to 60 more districts and 1.1mn new users, the energy ministry said earlier this month. A total of 913 districts now have access to gas, with plans to add 90 this year and 44 in 2026, the ministry added.

At the same time, power-sector gas demand has risen in 2025. Despite aggregate Turkish demand this year being higher than in 2024 and 2023, gas-fired plants accounted for 25pc of all Turkish gas demand on 1 January-23 February this year and all of last year, up from 22pc in 2023. Gas-fired plants have consumed 52mn m³/d this month, up from 50.4mn m³/d in January and more than double a year earlier (see graph).

National statistics office Turkstat's industrial production index held below a year earlier in May-October 2024, but rose by 1.5pc on the year in November and 7pc in December. This might have also boosted a steep rise in Turkish demand from November 2024, with country-wide demand surpassing 54bn m³ last year.

But forecasts on Wednesday suggest that daily lows in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir will hold around the 10-year average into March, with overnight lows even exceeding seasonal norms from 10 March. This could reduce overall demand in the coming days, alleviating the significant pressure currently experienced by the grid.

By Ugur Yildirim

Power sector gas demand daily averages Jan-Feb '000 Sm³

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25/03/26

Brazil's Bolsonaro to face trial for coup attempt

Sao Paulo, 26 March (Argus) — Brazil's former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro will face trial on charges of an attempted coup following his 2022 electoral defeat, the supreme court (STF) ruled today. In February Brazil's prosecutor-general charged Bolsonaro and seven other people — which include some of his former ministers — of plotting to guarantee that the former president stayed in power despite losing the election to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The plot included the 8 January 2023 storming of government buildings in the capital of Brasilia and plans to kill his political opponents , the prosecutor-general said. STF's five-judge panel voted unanimously to put Bolsonaro on trial, with top judge Alexandre Moraes saying that the 8 January insurrection was a result of "systematic efforts" by Bolsonaro and his aides to discredit the election he lost. If convicted, Bolsonaro could face up to 40 years in jail. He is charged with five crimes, including leading an armed criminal organization, attempted coup and threatening to harm "the Union's assets." Although it is not clear when court proceedings will begin, they are expected this year, which is unusually fast for Brazil's justice system. "They are in a hurry, big hurry," Bolsonaro said of the legal proceedings on social media platform X, adding that the case is moving "10 times faster" than Lula's proceeding when he was on trial for the anti-corruption Car Wash investigation. Lula was eventually found guilty of money laundering and corruption and jailed in April 2018, but was later acquitted and freed in November 2019. Bolsonaro also added that the trial is politically motivated. "The court is trying to prevent me from being tried in 2026, because they want to stop me from running in the elections," he added. Brazil will hold presidential elections in October 2026. The electoral court voted in June 2023 to make Bolsonaro ineligible to run for any public office until 2030. But he is still seen as a major political force in the country. It is unclear who will serve as Bolsonaro's successor for more conservative voters, although Sao Paulo state's governor Tarcisio de Freitas has emerged as the most likely candidate. Bolsonaro — who sat in the president's seat from 2019-2022 — also faces several other legal challenges to his conduct as president, including allegations of money laundering, criminal association and embezzlement for allegedly receiving jewelry as gifts from Saudi Arabia related to the sale of state-controlled Petrobras' 330,000 b/d Landulpho Alves refinery in northeastern Bahia state to the UAE's Mubadala Capital. But none of these allegations have moved forward in the judiciary. During his administration, Bolsonaro privatized several state-owned energy assets and put little priority on environmental protections, policies that Lula has since reversed. By Lucas Parolin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Methane law limits EU’s pool of gas suppliers: Eurogas

25/03/26

Methane law limits EU’s pool of gas suppliers: Eurogas

London, 26 March (Argus) — The EU's Methane Emission Regulation (MER) creates "significant challenges for ensuring the flexibility, affordability and security of the EU's gas supply", industry association Eurogas told Argus . The legislation, adopted in 2024, aims to reduce methane emissions in the EU's energy sector and from energy imports. It requires that from 2027 new and renewed import contracts demonstrate that, at the point of production, the producing country has rules equivalent to those of the EU on how to monitor, report and verify information on methane emissions, while by 2028 methane intensity will have to be reported, Eurogas summarised. By 2030, imports will have to demonstrate compliance with the methane intensity threshold set by the European Commission. Eurogas "fully supports" the MER's overarching goals of reducing methane emissions and ensuring sustainable energy imports, with the law representing an "important step in aligning climate ambitions with global energy trade", it said. But the regulation's "timeline, uncertainties and extraterritorial implications for importers" create significant challenges for EU gas supply, a particularly acute problem as the EU seeks to replace all Russian gas imports by 2027, Eurogas said. "Multiple challenges" such as the equivalence of systems for monitoring, reporting and verification of methane emissions, as well as the tracking of the origin and emission intensity of deliveries need to be addressed, the association said, noting that "several of the EU's suppliers have expressed major concerns regarding the MER". Ultimately, by significantly increasing the administrative burden on both exporters and importers, disincentivising the signing of long-term contracts, the MER may result in firms turning more towards intra-EU spot trade on hubs, which is "subject to its volatility and supply risks", Eurogas said. Compliance with the regulation becomes particularly difficult in complex cases, such as in the US, where gas can be produced by one company, transported by another, liquefied by a third and imported by a fourth, making it extremely difficult to track emissions across the entire value chain. This problem is compounded if gas is bought on a liquid hub such as the US' Henry Hub, as is frequently the case with US LNG tolling contracts, because there is no system for verifying the origin of gas bought on a hub. From there, gas then frequently co-mingles in pipelines and at the liquefaction facility, further complicating tracing efforts. Unless you are an integrated company that controls the entire route to market, from production to liquefaction to export, it is "very difficult to comply", Eurogas said. Additionally, uncertainties regarding compliance with requirements yet to be defined, liability risks and potential penalties as high as up to 20pc of the importer's annual turnover, make it "difficult for parties to assess risks and move forward with agreements", Eurogas said. Without concrete solutions in place to deliver such tracking and monitoring, the regulation will "limit Europe's potential pool of buyers" and is already "preventing certain gas supply contracts from being signed". Eurogas therefore recommends adopting a "pragmatic approach regarding regulatory equivalence and origin tracking, to ensure compliance can be achieved without endangering Europe's security of supply and avoid distortion between supply routes". Another consideration is that the MER does not specify any direct EU funding to support the implementation of necessary measures. These measures will "inevitably involve significant investments" in advanced monitoring equipment, upgrades of existing facilities to minimise emissions and administrative efforts needed for reporting, the association said. When it comes to EU regulated entities, the regulation clarifies that costs associated with such investments shall be taken into account in tariff setting, subject to efficiency and transparency criteria. The US Department of Energy in October requested the "initiation of an equivalence determination process for importers/third countries" in order to "ensure the continued reliable and stable supply" of gas from the US to Europe. Earlier this month EU officials held technical talks with US firms to support "mutual understanding" on implementation, the European Commission said. The "real challenge" lies in the fact that the commission has not yet formulated the methodology for calculating methane emissions, so the compliance of existing third-party reporting "cannot be assessed", Eurogas said. It should be ensured that the detrimental impact on current gas trading practices and on security of supply "remains limited and to avoid market framework reforms in third countries". Any solution must work in existing pipeline and LNG gas markets and should be "efficient and effective with low cost to industry and consumers" to enable large-scale adoption by the market, the association said. To this end, Eurogas recommends that the possibility of relying on a voluntary certification system based on book-and-claim, or alternatively an adapted mass balancing approach, should be explored. Such an approach would imply accepting foreign interconnected gas systems as a single mass balancing at a global level, where the focus should be on the injections and withdrawals from such systems, rather than on the tracking of the molecules or certificates and their trade within such systems, the association noted. This approach would be necessary in order to minimise the impact on trading and avoid market framework reforms in producers' countries, it said. By Brendan A'Hearn Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Energy security tops Rubio's Caribbean visit agenda

25/03/25

Energy security tops Rubio's Caribbean visit agenda

Houston, 25 March (Argus) — Energy security is the "big opportunity holistically" of US secretary of state Marco Rubio's planned visit this week to Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname, US special envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone said. The island nations that are net importers of crude and other energy products have a chance to "turn the page" to improve energy security and reduce prices, the envoy said today in a state department briefing to press. The trip comes after the US said this week it would impose a 25pc discretionary tariff on imports from countries that buy Venezuelan crude. Several nations in the past received crude from their South American neighbor through its PetroCaribe aid program which is largely defunct, other than shipments to Cuba. Trinidad has also sought to develop cross-border natural gas fields with Venezuela to boost its flagging production, but the US announcement further complicates this plan. "Along with a lot of the challenges posed with Venezuela, we're deeply committed to working with Trinidad to figuring out how to re-energize ... those natural gas opportunities," Claver-Carone said. Booming oil producer Guyana in turn has faced a border dispute with Venezuela, and the US hopes to discuss "binding security cooperation" to solve this problem during Rubio's visit. Along with Guyana's neighbor Suriname, which hopes to launch offshore crude production by 2028, the outlook for the region to increase energy production could end its "huge Achilles' heel to its economic development and security," Claver-Carone added. Rubio will also discuss security, including improving conditions in Haiti, illegal migration and arms and drug trafficking during his visits on Wednesday and Thursday. By Carla Bass Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Low snowpack could support Italian summer gas burn

25/03/25

Low snowpack could support Italian summer gas burn

London, 25 March (Argus) — Low snowpack and hydro reserves in Italy may increase demand for gas-fired plants this summer, in turn driving up power-sector gas burn on days when renewable output is weakest. Italian thermal-fired plants — mostly gas fired — accounted for 51pc of the country's generation mix in the summers of 2020-24, while run-of-river installations, pumped-storage plants and hydroelectric dams accounted for 19pc and solar, wind and other sources provided 31pc. Italian power-sector gas demand averaged 61.5mn m³/d. Italian gas-fired plants compete directly against programmable hydroelectric dams for both the day-ahead and ancillary power markets, so if overall electricity demand this summer remains steady on the year, gas-fired plants stand to gain a greater share of the generation mix than in years when hydro output was stronger. Unseasonably hot weather driving unusually high use of electric-powered air conditioning this summer would further increase scope for Italy's gas-fired plants to run. The estimated water content of snow on Italian mountains as of 8 March — the latest available data — was the lowest for that date since at least 2011 and was almost 57pc below the 2011-23 average for that time of year, according to Italian meteorological association Cima. Snowpack last year also dipped below the 2011-23 average in January-March before late-season precipitation pushed levels back above median levels in April-July. At the same time, water reserves at Italian hydroelectric dams have been well below historical averages this year. Reserves equal to 2.08TWh of power generation as of 17 March — the latest available data — were the third lowest for that date since 2015 and a full 10pc below the 10-year average for that time of year. Looking ahead, following months of predominantly dry weather punctuated by occasional bouts of heavy showers, long-term weather forecasts this week predicted slightly above-average rainfall over the rest of March and throughout April in Milan, around which much of the country's hydro capacity is located. And during that time, at least some rain was forecast to fall on all but one day, which would provide a far steadier influx of water into rivers. That said, Italian renewable generation capacity — particularly solar — is poised to continue rising in the coming months, likely boosting output from those technologies on the year in April-September and restricting demand for dispatchable gas-fired and hydroelectric dams alike. Total Italian PV solar capacity of 37.9GW at the start of March was 20pc higher on the year, suggesting potential for a proportional increase in generation of that type in April-September compared with summer 2024. Italian PV solar panels and on-site renewable installations at homes and businesses, the vast majority of which are solar-based, generated an average of 8GW each day in summer 2024, covering 26pc of all generation nationwide. By Ilenia Reale and Jeff Kuntz Gas and hydro output, hydro reserves GW, TWh Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Wartsila to supply engines for Spanish LNG vessel

25/03/25

Wartsila to supply engines for Spanish LNG vessel

Sao Paulo, 25 March (Argus) — Finnish engineering firm Wartsila said it will supply three dual-fuelled engines for a new LNG bunkering vessel being built for Spanish operator Ibaizabal. The engines will feature a new technology that "dramatically reduces methane emissions when operating with LNG fuel", Wartsila said. The equipment is scheduled for fast-track delivery to the yard in September this year and the ship is expected to be delivered before the end of 2026, the firm said. Wartsila has been expanding its reach in the sustainable fuels market, with nearly a quarter of its ship engine orders last year for vessels powered by alternative fuels. The company announced a deal last year to convert Norwegian shipowner Eidesvik's offshore supply vessel Viking Energy to an ammonia engine beginning in 2026. It has also been investing in methanol-fuelled engines since launching the product in 2022. By Natália Coelho Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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