Turkey's energy watchdog estimates the consumption of 52.02 billion standard cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas in Turkey in 2020, according to an official gazette announcement Wednesday.

Energy Market Regulatory Authority's (EMRA) natural gas consumption was estimated at around 52.13 bcm for 2019 but the actual consumption has not been announced yet.

The country consumed around 49.32 bcm of natural gas in 2018, according to EMRA's 2018 Natural Gas Market Report, a rate below the forecast of 54.52 bcm for that year.

Between January and October of last year, the amount of gas imports provided to Turkey through the pipelines hit roughly 35.5 bcm, according to initial calculations based on EMRA data. LNG imports, on the other hand, slightly exceeded 10 bcm, accounting for nearly 25% of the total gas imports in the said period.

Turkey aims to decrease its dependence on imported energy resources including oil and gas while increasing the share of local and renewable sources in its energy mix. Last year, the share of local and renewable resources in electricity production amounted to 62%.