Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz plans to fly to Saudi Arabia on Saturday for meetings with Saudi Petroleum Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Turkey's Energy Ministry announced Friday, dpa reported.
Turkish officials were unavailable to confirm the reason for the visit, but it comes as Turkey is under serious pressure from the United States and the European Union to end oil imports from Iran.
Recent unconfirmed reports have identified Saudi Arabia as a possible alternative source of supply.
Turkey's only oil refiner, Tupras, imported 8.35 million tonnes of crude from Iran over the first 11 months of last year, or 49 per cent of its total imports.
Turkish officials have repeatedly pointed out that Turkey is not bound by US and EU decisions to impose heavy sanctions on Iran in response to its continuing nuclear programme.
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