Türkiye has made a formal pitch to Angola to develop a long-term strategic energy partnership, with its Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Ahmet Berat Conkar calling for joint oil and gas projects in both onshore and offshore Angolan fields as the foundation of a bilateral alliance between the two countries.
Conkar said cooperation between Turkish state oil company TPAO and Angola’s Sonangol — encompassing technical knowledge sharing and upstream project development — would deliver mutual benefits. He cited Türkiye’s rapidly expanded deepwater fleet, which the government describes as the world’s fourth-largest, comprising six drillships and two seismic research vessels, as a key asset it could bring to the partnership.
That fleet was largely built on the back of gas discoveries in the Black Sea, estimated at approximately 800 billion cubic metres, which gave Türkiye hands-on experience in offshore exploration, drilling, and production technology. As a live demonstration of that capability, Conkar pointed to Türkiye’s deployment of a drillship in Somalia, where deepwater operations currently underway rank among the deepest being conducted anywhere in the world.
Trade Gap Signals Untapped Potential
Bilateral trade between Türkiye and Angola stood at $126 million in 2025 — well short of the $500 million target officials have set. DEIK Türkiye-Angola Business Council Chairman Halil Enes Olpak characterised the shortfall not as a failure, but as evidence of the significant headroom available for deeper economic and investment engagement between the two countries.
Source: turkiyetoday.com