Qatar still interested in huge coal project in Turkey, says Minister Yıldız

ISTANBUL

Qatar wants to invest in the Afşin-Elbistan coal reserves in Turkey's Kahramanmaraş, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has said. AA photo

Qatar wants to invest in the Afşin-Elbistan coal reserves in the eastern province of Kahramanmaraş, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said in an interview with CNN Türk on Dec. 5.

“We’ll all see some new investment flow to Turkey from Qatar,” said Yıldız, adding that one of the main topics of Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan’s visit to Qatar Dec. 4 was energy.

The minister said Qatar may ink a deal to renew its investment in Afşin-Elbistan in three months.

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (TAQA), the state-owned oil explorer and power supplier, has delayed plans to start the construction of 8,000 MW of coal-fired power plants in Turkey to 2014, citing other spending priorities.

Turkey and the TAQA agreed in January on a project worth up to $12 billion to build several power plants using the lignite coal reserves of Turkey’s Afşin-Elbistan region.

Following the decision of the TAQA to delay the coal-fired power plant project in Turkey, Yıldız said Turkey had already started talking with other countries about the project.