Turkey, Venezuela sign energy deal

Turkey and Venezuela signed an energy deal at the Turkish energy ministry HQ in capital Ankara on Thursday.

Turkish Energy & Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro Moros signed the agreement on behalf of their countries.

Speaking after the signing ceremony, Yildiz said the agreement envisaged the implementation of projects to be jointly developed by Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) and its subsidiary Turkish Petroleum International Company Ltd. (TPIC) concerning the search, processing, refining, storage, transport and marketing of Venezulea's rich hydro-carbon resources.

Yildiz said although Turkey and Venezuela were geographically distant countries, they had the potential to carry out a close cooperation in many areas. Venezuela's Foreign Minister Moros said in his part that today's agreement was the start of a wide-scale cooperation between Turkey and his country in energy sector.

Noting that Venezuela had the largest oil vein in the world, Moros said the country was eager to benefit from Turkish companies' technological experience in petrochemical industry and refineries.

Moros also said Venezuela would provide Turkey with oil resources and Turkish companies would visit the Orinoco oil pipeline in Venezuela for joint investments as part of the agreement signed by the two countries today.


/World Bulletin/