By Sophie Song - Soon, it may be easier to ask where China has not gone in search of energy than where it has gone. The world’s second-largest economy is in talks to invest $10 billion to $12 billion in a Turkish coalfield.
The potential deal involves the Afsin-Elbistan region, which holds up to 45 percent of Turkey’s so-called brown coal reserves, also known as lignite, in southern Turkey, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday.
"This is a big project," Taner Yildiz, Turkey's energy minister, said. "We have to set up the Afsin-Elbistan field project correctly. We have a big store of information. We are working with China on this."
The project also includes the construction of an 8,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant.
A deal with Abu Dhabi National Energy on the same project was signed in January 2013, but Turkey has begun talks with other companies due to investment delays.
Turkey is interested in making the most of its coal resources to cut natural gas imports and is likely to bolster the importance of brown coal in power generation as demand grows with the country’s expanding economy.
Yildiz said it’s not possible to say when any deal with China will be concluded, according to the South China Morning Post.
China has gone to the North Pole and back lately in its search for energy. On a recent trip to Central Asia, President Xi Jinping committed to several multibillion-dollar oil and gas projects in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Most recently, there were reports of Chinese buyers being interested in a Norwegian fjord that has gone on sale, which would give China access to as much as 20 million tons of coal reserve, in addition to a launching pad for future Arctic explorations.
The world’s second-largest economy has also agreed to invest $27 billion in a liquid natural gas project with Novatek, Russia’s second largest natural gas producer.