Türkiye and Saudi Arabia inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at forging further cooperation in the field of critical minerals, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar stated on Monday.
The deal came after Saudi Arabia’s Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Bandar Alkhorayef’s visit to Türkiye on Monday, Bayraktar said during an interview on the TRT Haber television channel.
The deal includes mineral investments and the cooperation required for cutting-edge technology, solar panels and electric cars.
Saudi Arabia has a specific interest in hydrogen, wind and solar power as part of its goal to reach 5,000 megawatts (MW) of installed power, Bayraktar confirmed.
The shipments of Türkiye’s goods to Saudi Arabia jumped by more than a whopping 600% from January through July this year, the data of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) showed earlier this month, as joint efforts to fully normalize relations strained over the recent years gain momentum.
With regards to Türkiye, Bayraktar explained that one of its top priorities is the reduction of energy dependency given the country’s increased energy demand in line with its growing population and industrial activity.
To this end, the natural gas discovery in Türkiye's northern Black Sea region and the recent oil find in the southeastern Gabar region are vital to achieving this goal of energy independence.
With 50 million tons of oil and petroleum product imports totaling $40 billion in 2022, 55 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas imports totaling $38.4 billion, and 38 million tons of coal imports totaling $10 billion, he argued that the country needs to reduce its reliance on all of these imports.
Türkiye’s efforts to decrease energy dependency bore fruit in 2020, when the country’s first natural gas discovery was made in the Black Sea in the Tuna-1 well, yielding 405 bcm of gas, followed by the world's largest offshore find also that year. It made another discovery in June 2021 in the Amasra-1 well, holding reserves of 135 bcm.
The Amasra-1 well brought total Black Sea gas reserves to 540 bcm, which was later revised up to 652 bcm.
In December 2022, a further 58 bcm of gas was found in the Çaycuma-1 well in the southwestern part of the Black Sea, bringing the country’s total oil reserves to date to 710 bcm.
Meanwhile, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said Monday after meeting Alkhorayef that Ankara and Riyadh will implement a "robust plan" to increase bilateral trade.
"We will implement a robust plan to enhance mutual trade between Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, particularly increasing reciprocal investments in the manufacturing sector," Bolat said on X, formerly Twitter, after the meeting in the Turkish capital.
"In this context, we will also sign a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in export strategies and sectoral partnerships in the coming days."
Built upon President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Jeddah last month, Bolat said this "collaboration will continue to work toward our companies getting a larger share in projects in Saudi Arabia, in line with Saudi Arabia's National Industrial and Mining Strategy and the Saudi Vision 2030."
Erdoğan’s Saudi stop in July saw the signing of several contracts in the fields of energy, direct investment, defense and media.
