Yildiz said Turkey‘s sole oil refiner, Tupras, had reached an agreement for Libya to supply up to 1 million tonnes of crude and was conducting talks with Saudi Arabia to conclude a long-term supply agreement.
Tupras desperately needs to find new sources of crude ahead of the imposition of wide-ranging new sanctions against Iran by the United States.
Last year, Tupras sourced 51 per cent of the crude it imported from Iran. Over the first four months of this year, that percentage increased to 58 per cent.
The announcement came less than 24 hours after the White House said it had included Turkey on a list of seven countries which will be allowed to buy crude oil from Iran for 180 days after the US imposes its new sanctions on June 28th.
However the waiver comes with the condition that Turkey must reduce the amount of oil it buys from Iran.
The US is imposing the sanctions in response to Iran‘s continuing efforts to develop its nuclear programme, with the aim of cutting off Tehran‘s foreign revenue earnings.
Washington alleges that Iran‘s nuclear programme is aimed at developing nuclear weapons but Tehran insists that it is designed only to develop a domestic nuclear power programme.
Yildiz pointed out that Turkey‘s international relations were an extremely sensitive issue, especially as Iran is also a close neighbour.
"The issue is not whether Turkey is on the list now, or not on the list in the future," he said, explaining that, sanctions aside, one of his ministry‘s main aims was to increase the number of countries from which Turkey imported its oil and gas.
Iran also meets around a fifth of Turkey‘s demand for natural gas, which is not included in the latest US sanctions.
An explosion at an Iranian compressor station earlier this year left Turkey dangerously short of gas and caused lengthy power cuts during the winter.
