Yildiz: Oil talks with Saudis began

Turkey has begun talks with Saudi Arabia on long-term crude oil purchases in line with Turkey's main energy target to increase the number of countries from which Turkey imports crude oil, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said yesterday. "Talks with Saudi Arabia on long-term crude oil purchases have started. This doesn't concern only Tupras but also concerns Saudi Arabia's Aramco. Talks are still going on; they will discuss the quantities between them," Yildiz told reporters. Asked whether the Saudi oil would be as cheap as Iranian oil, Yildiz said Turkish refiner Tupras would compare crude oil prices and take the decision itself. "We aim to increase the number of countries where we buy natural gas from five to seven or eight and the number of countries where we buy crude oil to 14, if possible, from 11. We determined Libya as the 12th country. Tupras has made connections to buy around 1 million tons (of oil)," Yildiz said. Turkey has also been working with Venezuela for months on a project under which the South American country would provide oil products to Turkey in exchange for the construction of housing there."Our work with Venezuela is now at the final stage. We are working towards a plan where we import petroleum coke in exchange for our contractors' working there," Yildiz said. He said a Turkish contractor had already built 1,500 houses near Caracas and that ultimately 350,000 houses would be built.