Turkey's natural gas imports decreased by 1.3% in December last year compared to the same month of 2020, according to data by the country's energy watchdog released Tuesday.

Natural gas imports dropped to around 6.18 billion cubic meters (bcm) from approximately 6.26 bcm for the same month of 2020, Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) said in its monthly natural gas market report.

In December, the country imported 3.66 bcm of natural gas via pipelines, while 2.51 million cubic meters (mcm) was purchased as LNG, EMRA's data showed. This marked a decrease of 24.6% in pipeline imports and an increase of 81% in LNG imports.

Natural gas storage volume also declined by 32.9% to around 1.91 bcm in December.

Gas imports from Russia decreased by 30% in December, but imports from the U.S. and Iran increased by 92.6% and 4.5% respectively, compared to the same period of 2020.

Russia supplied the most gas to Turkey at 2.06 bcm, while the United States and Iran followed with 1.05 mcm and 855 mcm respectively.

The country's total gas consumption also increased by 2.1% to approximately 6.21 bcm compared to the same month of 2020.

Household consumption grew by 2.7% to 2.25 bcm, and the use of gas in power plants decreased by 8% to 1.43 bcm during the same period.

The natural gas volume in storage in December 2021 decreased by 32.9% to around 1.91 bcm compared to about 2.85 bcm in December 2020.