Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz on Thursday met with Richard Morningstar, special envoy of the United States Secretary of State for Eurasian Energy, in capital Ankara, Anadolu News Agency reported.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting with the U.S. envoy, Yildiz said they discussed latest developments in the global and regional energy sectors, including energy supplies from Iraq and Azerbaijan as well as pipeline projects in the region.
Responding to a question whether a U.S. company would take part in a future tender for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Turkey, Morningstar said the U.S. administration was hopeful for American participation in such a project.
Morningstar said today's meeting also addressed transportation of oil from fields in northern Iraq, adding both Turkey and the U.S. were hopeful that the conclusion of such agreements to that end would prove successful.
Responding to a question over a possible merger of the Nabucco pipeline project with the Interconnection Turkey Greece Italy (ITGI) project, a planned pipeline between Turkey, Greece and Italy which would will supply natural gas from the Caspian Sea and the Middle East to Europe, Morningstar said the U.S. had been encouraging sides for the materialization of such a merger.
On the same issue, Yildiz said there were different opinions circulating over both a possible merger and separate operation of the two projects, adding that Turkey would contribute in anyway to the efforts to maintain European energy security.