Naimi said "We observe with great concerns the recent escalation of oil prices, but we believe that, the world market is well supplied and the petroleum inventories are comfortable. Fundamentals do not support current high petroleum prices. The move to such high prices has been supported by the weakening of the U.S. Dollar, speculation, geopolitics ,and the fear of a major disruption of supplies. Ladies and Gentlemen; I've mentioned the interdependence of Asian countries several times today, and I'd like to mention some concrete examples of this positive development. Economic growth of Asia, and the restructuring of the oil industries in some of its nations, brought opportunities for Saudi Arabia to make joint investments in the Asian downstream petroleum industry. During the last seventeen years, Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars in downstream joint ventures, including partnerships in South Korea, the Philippines, China and Japan. Such partnerships provide these countries with timely, predictable delivery of crude oil configured exactly to their refineries' needs. We feel that this type of interdependent relationship in the petroleum field is a strategic win for both partners, and will solidify our petroleum linkage with Asian countries. For example, in 2005, our national oil company, Saudi Aramco, signed a memorandum of understanding with Sumitomo Chemical of Japan to build a massive, integrated refining and petrochemical complex on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. The resulting company, PetroRabigh, which will begin operation next year, is expected to be one of the largest and most competitive petrochemical complexes in the world. --MORE
