Turkey wants to buy some shipments of Yemen 's liquefied natural gas and is interested in investing in the country's hydrocarbon sector, Yemen 's oil ministry said.

The country, which relies on imported energy and is struggling to diversify its suppliers, can submit its bids for Yemeni LNG cargoes and negotiate prices, Yemen 's oil Minister Ahmed Dares said in a statement posted on the ministry website.

Turkey also wants to invest in Yemen 's mining sector, the statement added.

Last month, Mr. Dares said Yemen plans to start negotiations with foreign buyers to raise LNG prices in an effort to increase the impoverished country's revenue.

The oil ministry is working on improving the prices paid for LNG cargoes bound for the U.S. next year and is developing a strategy to increase prices for all LNG sales in 2014, he said.

Last month, French oil major Total SA (TOT) and GDF Suez Trading agreed to raise the price of Yemeni LNG sold under long-term contracts from next year, in a move that Mr. Dares said would boost the country's annual average natural gas revenues to at least $340 million from $160 million.

Yemen LNG has three long-term contracts with Total, GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR) and Kogas.

Total, which has an almost 40% interest in the country's liquefaction plant, and GDF Suez have also agreed to divert some Yemeni LNG cargoes from the U.S. market to other markets in Asia and Europe, while the price of LNG was raised to $7.21 from $3 per million British thermal units on a free on board basis, Mr. Dares has said.

Several producers have been discouraged from shipping LNG cargoes to the U.S. due to low gas prices and are now diverting their sales to other markets where oil-linked gas prices have risen above U.S. levels.

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