According to Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA), the applications for the use of the capacities for the spot supplies of piped gas can be submitted for three consecutive calendar years.
Report informs, citing Turkish media, that previously, the annual bids for the use of the capacities could be submitted for only one year.
According to EMRA chairman Mustafa Yilmaz, the change will provide the ground for more profitable commercial talks for the supplier companies.
"The company's competitiveness will grow, and the cost of natural gas imports to our country will drop," Yilmaz said.
At the first stage, the annual announcements of the capacities for gas imports by the pipes for 2022, 2023, 2024 will be accepted at the entry points Turkgozu, TANAP Seyitgazi, and TANAP Thrace, which are the points of natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan to Turkey.
"EMRA's decision will promote the higher security of energy supplies for Turkey," Yilmaz said.
Noting that over the past years, the world has seen a growing tendency towards the shift from long-term agreements to spot sales and indexed stock exchange in natural gas sales, Yilmaz noted that the medium-term spot import of natural gas would help Turkey to better plan its potential of energy sources import and have a more predictable import portfolio, which means the overall improvement of the security of supplies.
Turkey receives the natural gas produced from the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan. The gas volumes are delivered to the Turkish market via the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP). The gas pipeline has been supplying commercial gas to Turkey since June 30, 2018.