Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil exporter, could acquire a 49 percent stake in GüzelEnerji, a Turkish fuel distribution company owned by OYAK, the pension fund for members of the Turkish Armed Forces, the BirGün daily reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the talks.
The report said Saudi officials recently visited İstanbul for talks on a potential investment in GüzelEnerji, whose fuel distribution business includes the TotalEnergies, M Oil and Türk Petrol brands in Turkey.
OYAK Energy Companies Chairman Uğur Doğan had previously said the group was having talks with Saudi Aramco on partnership, commercial cooperation and strategic investment opportunities in the energy sector.
The talks focus on GüzelEnerji’s fuel distribution business, BirGün said.
According to sources cited by the daily, a 49 percent partnership is among the options under discussion, although the final ownership structure and outcome of the talks remain unclear.
GüzelEnerji has fuel and liquefied petroleum gas facilities in Gebze, Aliağa, Tekirdağ’s Marmara Ereğlisi district, Ankara, Kocaeli’s Yarımca area and Samsun, with a total capacity of 550,000 cubic meters.
The company also has a lubricants plant in İzmir’s Çiğli district.
The report said GüzelEnerji operates a network of more than 1,000 stations and ranks fourth in Turkey’s fuel distribution sector, with an 8.54 percent market share in diesel and 7.47 percent in gasoline.
OYAK was established in 1961 to provide supplementary retirement and social benefits to members of the Turkish Armed Forces.
It has since become one of Turkey’s largest institutional investors, with holdings in industry, energy, logistics and services.
The reported talks come as Turkey and Saudi Arabia have moved to expand economic and investment ties following a years-long rupture in relations after the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate General in İstanbul.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Riyadh in February, his first trip to the kingdom in more than two years, where he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
During the visit Turkey and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement for a $2 billion renewable energy investment involving large-scale solar power plants in central Turkey.
Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said at the time that the deal was part of a broader effort by Ankara and Riyadh to deepen trade and investment ties under the vision set out by Erdoğan and the Saudi crown prince.
The potential Aramco investment, if finalized, would mark another step in the growing economic rapprochement between the two countries and give the Saudi oil giant a significant foothold in Turkey’s fuel distribution market.