EgeGaz recently hosted an EPDK delegation led by President Hasan Köktaş and authority directors at its extensive facility in İzmir’s Aliağa township. During the visit, EgeGaz shared its proposals aimed at contributing to the growth of Türkiye’s LNG market.
During his presentation on the global LNG market and EgeGaz, company chair and general manager İbrahim Akbal highlighted the significant role which his company’s USD 1.5 billion facility plays in Türkiye’s natural gas market.
EgeGaz, Türkiye’s pioneering privately-owned LNG terminal and member of the Çolakoğlu Group, welcomed a distinguished delegation from the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) at its Aliağa facility. The delegation was led by EPDK President Hasan Köktaş and included authority directors Fatih Dönmez, Celal Ustaoğlu, Zekeriya Gökşenli, Cemil Kılıç, and Abdullah Tancan along with EPDK Vice President Dr. Vedat Gün, Energy Specialist Gökhan Efe, and Media Relations Officers Cem Avcı and Nafiz Kaya.
The EPDK delegation led by Köktaş toured and received briefings at the EgeGaz facility in Aliağa. Their visit was hosted by a group of EgeGaz and Çolakoğlu Group executives including Çolakoğlu Group Chairman Hasan Çolakoğlu, EgeGaz Chairman & General Manager İbrahim Akbal, EgeGaz Deputy Chairman Haydar Çolakoğlu, EgeGaz directors Mehmet Çolakoğlu and Kurtuluş Yıldırım, EgeGaz Business Development Coordinator Aziz Camcı, Deputy General Manager Masum Güven, and other EgeGaz executives.
“28% of all natural gas trading involves LNG.”
Akbal noted that between 2002 and 2009, global LNG trade neared 250 billion cubic meters. “When we consider that total natural gas trade amounted to 876.57 billion cubic meters” he explained, “28% of all natural gas trading involves LNG.” Pointing out that natural gas trade moves through a combination of pipelines and LNG exports, Akbal told his listeners that while pipelines carry gas from Central Asia and Russia, the Middle East utilizes pipelines; LNG and the Far East, Africa, South America, and North America rely primarily however on LNG exports in the conduct of their natural gas trade. He further noted that while South America has recently entered the LNG market, North America has seen a decrease in LNG trade due to its development of a self-sufficient natural gas system in recent years.
“The world relies on three main natural gas price indices.”
Providing some additional information about global LNG trade, EgeGaz Chairman & General Manager İbrahim Akbal said:
“During 2009, Türkiye imported 6.17 billion cubic meters of LNG, which was part of its overall natural gas consumption of 35.10 billion cubic meters that year. The world relies on three main natural gas price indices. Of these, in the United States, the Henry Hub (HH) is the key index for natural gas prices, tracking spot, daily, and futures trading on the Texas and Louisiana natural gas network. In 2009, the US consumed a massive 646 billion cubic meters of natural gas, sourced from a combination of domestic production, pipeline imports, and LNG imports. Due to the boom in shale gas production in recent years, the United States has achieved self-sufficiency in natural gas, resulting in lower prices across the network. Historically, North America’s HH has always been cheaper than the UK’s National Balancing Point (NBP) index as well as other EU natural gas indices. Despite its importance however, HH is not utilized as a reference index in LNG procurements. The natural gas price that most North American TV viewers are familiar with is the Henry Hub price, which reflects the price of natural gas only within the Louisiana region’s network in the US and not the actual price elsewhere.
“The National Balancing Point (NBP) serves as an index for spot, daily, and futures natural gas trading in the UK’s national gas network. This index has become the go-to benchmark in the burgeoning spot LNG market and is embraced by both producers and buyers. Since the summer of 2009, the UKs spot LNG market has been predominantly NBP-based. However, for sales delivered to the Eastern Mediterranean (including Türkiye), producers and sellers set prices by adding freight, other expenses, and profit to the NBP price.
“The Japanese Cocktail (also known as Japan Customs-Cleared Crude or JCC) is the third major index. It serves as the price benchmark for LNG supply contracts in Far Eastern countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.”
