bak meets with Saudi Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi on Tuesday in Riyadh. JEDDAH – Saudi Arabia has pledged to ensure a stable supply of oil to South Korea. The assurances came as South Korea's President Lee Myung-Bak held talks in Saudi Arabia Tuesday with Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi and the CEO of Saudi Aramco, Khalid Al-Faleh. They discussed “means of bilateral cooperation between both countries,” Saudi state news agency SPA said without giving further details. South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a senior official as saying Naimi had “promised to help ensure a stable supply of crude to South Korea.” “Regarding oil supply-demand, we will meet any request and additional demand from South Korea,” senior South Korean presidential press secretary Choe Geum-nak quoted Naimi as saying. “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,” Yonhap quoted the official as saying. Naimi said last month that Saudi Arabia was ready to make up for any shortfall. South Korea, the world's fifth largest oil importer, accounts for 9 percent of Iran's oil exports. In 2011, Saudi Arabia exported 270 million barrels of oil to South Korea, accounting for 31.4 percent of Seoul's entire oil imports. South Korea, the world's fifth-largest crude oil importer, sourced some 87 percent of its crude imports from the Middle East last year. It imported 2.54 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude last year, with its top five suppliers Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and Iran. Lee will also visit Qatar Thursday and make a stop in the United Arab Emirates on his way home. “I am determined to work harder than any other heads of state to overcome the (global financial) crisis this year, including visiting the three Middle Eastern nations,” Lee said during a meeting with South Korean residents in Saudi Arabia.
