Ali I. Al-Naimi, Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources, held talks at his office in Riyadh today with Chris Huhne, British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and the accompanying delegation in the presence of Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Ab dulaziz, Assistant Minister of Petrleum and Mineral Resources for Petroleum Affairs and Prince Faisal bin Turki bin Abdulaizz, Consultant at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. Several issues were discussed during the meeting, the most important of which being the international petroleum market conditions and the importance of market stability in terms of supply and demand and prices in a way that contributes to global economic growth with no negative effects on consuming countries; particularly emerging and developing economies, global petroleum industry, or energy industry in general. The two sides agreed that the current high prices are due primarily to misinformation, exaggerated negative expectations and speculation. They are not connected to market essentials in terms of supply, demand and commercial stock levels. Hence, cooperation between consuming and exporting countries is important whether through the Secretariat General of the International Energy Forum , or bilateral action to stabilize the market, avoid extreme price fluctuations and decrease the volume of misinformation and exaggerated expectations which harm the petroleum market. The British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change commended the Kingdom's efforts to guarantee stability of the international petroleum market through provision of supplies to the market and maintaining surplus capacity. Also discussed during the meeting were the environmental conditions and climate change, international talks in this regard, the importance of cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Britain in order to reach international agreements that do not undermine world economic growth or peoples' well-being, while helping at the same time to reduce pollution and emissions, such as carbon dioxide. In this respect, the meeting reviewed cooperation between the two countries within the 4-kingdom group that includes, along with Saudi Arabia and Britain, Norway and the Netherlands, to inject the carbon dioxide into oil fields. Both Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom are conducting pioneer experiments in this field. The meeting also reviewed some important international developments in oil producing and consuming countries, particularly the situation in Libya that led to shortage of production, and the situation in Japan where some oil refineries and nuclear-run power stations were shut down. Despite these tragic developments, the global energy market; characterized by excess production and refining capacity, flexibility and smoothness of trade and movement in the international oil market, inter-reliability and continuous international cooperation, has contributed to the avoidance of any negative impact. At the end of the meeting, the two sides focused on the importance of continuing bilateral cooperation, exchanging visits, and encouraging joint investment in the fields of petroleum and energy. The meeting was attended by Abdulrahman bin Mohammad Abdulkarim, Counselor for Companies' Affairs; Dr. Ibrahim al-Muhanna, Dr. Ahmed al-Ghamdi, and Dr. Mohammad al-Sabban, advisors at minister's office; and Ali H. al-Twairqi, Director General of the Office of the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. The meeting was also attended by the accompanying delegation and Britain's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Tom Philips.
