AFP reported that Saudi Arabia has pledged to ensure a stable supply of oil to South Korea which is under pressure from the United States to reduce purchases from Iran.
The kingdom also agreed during a visit by Lee Myung Bak president of South Korea to bolster defence cooperation with the East Asian nation. The assurances over oil supplies came as Lee held talks with Mr Ali al Naimi oil minister of Saudi Arabia and Mr Khalid al Faleh head of state oil giant Saudi Aramco.
Saudi state news agency SPA said that they discussed means of bilateral cooperation between both countries. But a senior official said that Naimi had promised to help ensure a stable supply of crude to South Korea.
Mr Choe Geum nak senior South Korean presidential press secretary quoted Mr Naimi as saying that “Regarding oil supply demand we will meet any request and additional demand from South Korea. Mr Lee asked for Saudi’s support for a stable supply of crude oil to South Korea in case of a contingency, stressing that a rise in oil prices at a time of global economic difficulty could deal a blow to the world economy.”
Washington wants close ally Seoul to reduce purchases of Iranian crude in line with a US led drive to sanction Tehran for its suspected nuclear weapons program.
Mr Naimi said last month that Saudi Arabia was ready to make up for any shortfall in Iran’s oil exports under new Western sanctions an announcement that prompted Tehran to urge Riyadh to reflect on its vow.
South Korea, the world’s fifth largest oil importer accounts for around 10% of Iran’s oil exports but has yet to cut the imports of Iranian oil due to fears of economic damage. In 2011 top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia exported 270 million barrels of oil to South Korea accounting for 31.4% of Seoul’s entire oil imports.
The official said that the focus of this visit is to lift cooperation in non-economic areas to the level of the economic sector. What is important is that the two sides agreed to elevate defence cooperation as well to match such a level.
In mid November, Saudi Arabia announced that it had signed an agreement with South Korea on developing nuclear power generation to help meet rising demand for energy in the kingdom Iran’s regional arch foe.
(Sourced from AFP)
