With Saudi Aramco’s $50 billion deal, Turkey seeks less dependency on West

With Saudi Aramco’s $50 billion deal, Turkey seeks less dependency on West

Oil giant Saudi Aramco met with around 80 Turkish contractors this week to discuss $50 billion worth of potential projects in the kingdom, Bloomberg reported Thursday. 

The head of the Turkish Contractors Association, Erdal Eren, told Bloomberg that potential projects are planned through 2025.

“Aramco wants to see as many Turkish contractors as possible in its projects,” Eren said. “They are planning refinery, pipeline, management buildings and other infrastructure construction that will be worth $50 billion in investment.” Aramco will soon draw up a list of contractors that will work on the projects, and the parties will reconvene again soon in Saudi Arabia. 

The move marks a significant moment for both countries’ economies. Aramco is the third most valuable company in the world and has an unparalleled influence on global oil markets. Turkish businesses, meanwhile, have been hit hard by the war in Ukraine and several deadly earthquakes earlier this year that claimed the lives of around 50,000 people. 

Over the years, the two major regional powers had grown more distant over Erdogan’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and the 2018 killing of the Saudi journalist living in US Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was killed in 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by government