The reason behind natural gas restriction implemented by Iran

Turkey has certainly been in a difficult situation on grounds of the gas supply restriction practiced by Iran. When we look at the possible reasons causing this situation which has put Turkey’s industry in a difficult position, we can see the following.

“There was a natural gas outage in December 2007 or January 2008. Here, too, when there was a problem with the natural gas it received through Turkmenistan, at that time it cut off the natural gas it delivered to Turkey. In other words, Iran slightly prioritizes the domestic market in cold weather. Although it is said to be a ’technical issue’, it could be understood that Iran allocates this gas for domestic consumption. In fact, there are some points that support it in some news stories published in Iran.

In particular, in September last year, Oil Minister Javad Uci had made a statement saying; ‘We will have a shortage in natural gas in the winter months. There may be some interruptions.” And there were serious cuts in natural gas supplied to Iran’s cement sector, in November. In other words, although these are not very recent dates, they show us that there are some problems with Iran’s own domestic gas supply. Although there are some crises in Turkey-Iran relations, the essence of the issue is that Iran, although it is a particularly gas-rich country, cannot attract the necessary investment due to sanctions, and it cannot bring the natural gas industry to the level it wants. For this reason, as domestic consumption increases, it becomes necessary to cut off external shipments.”

Another alternative could be as follows: This situation may be a move to remind Turkey how important Iranian natural gas is. Because at various times Iran has had the suspicion “Will Turkey resort to other resources such as Qatar etc and negotiate a price or ask for a discount?’

 Therefore, although current crisis seems to be more about winter conditions than a political issue, there is also a possibility that Iran might be taking this opportunity to remind Turkey of the importance of Iranian natural gas.