Turkey has begun to ration electricity and its regions will suffer temporary power cuts due to natural gas supply problems, energy officials said on Friday. Turkey has seen a drop in natural gas imports from Iran over the past 10 days due to harsh winter weather. On Thursday, nearly two dozen factories in northwestern Turkey had their natural gas supplies cut, though they were later resumed. "We have begun implementing the power cuts today. Region by region there will be cuts of one or two hours. In this way, we will make savings in natural gas used by power stations to produce electricity," one official told Reuters. He said the cuts would continue as long as Turkey continued to suffer shortfalls in its natural gas requirements. "The decision taken (on rationing electricity) applies to the whole of Turkey," another official said, adding the cuts had begun in Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city and business hub. Earlier, officials had announced an increase in the amount of gas received from Russia and Iran, but volumes remain well below what Turkey requires. Supplies from Iran on Friday reached 11 million cubic metres, up from recent lows of between five million and 10 million cubic metres but well short of the 26 million cubic metres a day previously agreed with Tehran. Iran says it had to reduce its exports because harsh weather has raised consumption at home. Russia, which supplies 65 percent of Turkey's natural gas needs, has stepped in to help to cover some of Turkey's shortfall. --SP 14 47 Local Time 11 47 GMT
