related aspects, is characterized by moderation and the endeavor to promote peace, justice, international cooperation, regional and international stability, and human prosperity, as well as the employment of all resources to achieve such objectives. Two: Cooperation with the rest of the world in all aspects. The Kingdom has close ties with most countries. The principle of international cooperation adopted by the Kingdom as a general policy covers economic aspects, including oil and energy. Such cooperation includes concerted efforts with all oil-producing, OPEC and non-OPEC countries. Despite having some policy differences, oil producing countries share Saudi Arabia's most important oil policy objective: maintaining the oil market's medium and long term stability. OPEC, of which the Kingdom is a founding member and a major player, serves the global oil market and industry as well as the interests of the producing countries. The Kingdom also has close cooperation ties with other non-OPEC oil producing nations, especially when market conditions so require. Examples include cooperation with Russia, Mexico, and Norway. International cooperation also includes relationships with oil consuming countries. This cooperation is of special importance to the Kingdom for the maintenance of the stability of the global oil market, especially in the long term, and guaranteeing oil's positive contribution to global economic growth and prosperity. We, also have strong ties with the companies and countries that import Saudi oil, and we closely track the movement of global oil demand. In the 50's and 60's, Europe was our main market. Then, in the 90's, our export focus shifted to the United States as a result of the growth in its oil demand. Now, Asia is our main market, representing the destination of approximately 60% of our oil exports, a percentage that is expected to rise during the coming years. Three: Global oil market stability is considered a major objective of Saudi oil policy, and it involves two main points. The first is the supply and demand balance and the availability of an appropriate commercial stock to maintain uninterrupted supplies to oil refineries for a sufficient period of time. The second is oil price stability at rates that do not adversely affect the global economy growth rate, particularly in the developing nations, while generating appropriate revenues to the producing nations, which own exhaustible resources. It is assumed that such price levels will provide oil companies, irrespective of ownership or size, with appropriate returns to continue to invest in all phases of the petroleum value chain, which is a long-term, high-risk investment, given the fact that some phases of the oil industry, such as refining and transportation, may not be attractive to investors. Four: Serving the local market. While our international oil commercial policy focuses on achieving reasonable revenues from oil exports, we, at the same time, endeavor to harness the oil industry to help develop the national economy in terms of creating added value through refining oil and manufacturing petrochemicals. We also seek to contribute to expanding the Kingdom's economic base to decrease dependence on oil exports, through promoting various industries totally or partially based on ample energy resources. Such efforts include increasing energy efficiency. Five: Focus on the administrative side. In Saudi Arabia, we recognize that to have a productive, viable and competitive oil industry and implement the economic and oil aspects of the Government's general policy, we must have an oil industry that is capable of achieving such objectives. One of the most important aspects in this regard is the creation of an appropriate administrative system and focusing on educating, training and qualifying human resources. --More
