Turkey's gas prices to decline gradually as it surged slowly-min

Turkey increased gas prices by 22.5 percent for residents and by 22 percent for industry as of Saturday, the fifth increase in natural gas since the beginning of the year that increased prices for domestic users by 72.7 percent and industry prices by 74.9 percent for the same period.

The natural gas price adjustments depends on the oil prices index over the last 6-9-12 month period, Hilmi Guler said adding that all prices are determined by an automated pricing mechanism, based on these costs.

The latest rate hike increased criticism of the government as the rise was announced at a time when oil prices declined some 55 percent from its record high levels at the beginning of July.

Saltuk Duzyol, vice president of the state-run Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS), who also attended the meeting, said the price hikes in Turkey were the result of a regular pricing procedure and were less when compared to European countries.

"It is seen that the hikes in our country remain at a lower level compared to hikes in Europe," he said.

The automatic oil and gas pricing mechanism, a regulation implemented in July 2008, calculates quarterly automatic pricing adjustments in Turkey.

Electricity prices in Turkey are also expected to rise by a minimum 10 percent as of January following the recent hike in natural gas prices, NTVMSNBC reported on Monday citing officials.

Energy importer Turkey depends mainly on Russian and Iranian natural gas to produce electricity to meet the country's increasing energy demand.