AlQa'dah 22, 1432, Oct 20, 2011, SPA -- South Korean President Lee Myung Bak received here today visiting Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi. During the audience, the Minister conveyed the greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, his Crown Prince and the Second Deputy Premier to the Korean President. In turn, the President asked the Minister to convey his greetings to the Saudi leadership. The two sides reviewed a number of issues, especially the stability of world oil market and the Saudi role in this regard as well as bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the fields of petroleum and mining. Following the meeting, an opening ceremony of the expansion project of S-Oil Company Refinery has taken place in the presence of the President of Saudi Aramco company Khalid Al-Falih, other senior officials and executives of Aramco and the Saudi Ambassador to S. Korea Ahmed bin Younis Al-Barak. The Refinery of S-Oil Company is a Saudi-South Korean joint venture. In a statement to reporters after the opening ceremony, Al-Naimi said petroleum relations binding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Korea go back to several decades as Korea is today the fourth largest importer of Saudi oil with several joint investments between the two countries established, most important of which is S-Oil company, one of the largest and most developed refinery in the world. He added that cooperation between the two countries extends to other aspects, including Korean companies involvement in construction and engineering businesses in Saudi Arabia as per agreements with Saudi oil industry. For his part, President Lee lauded the developing relations between Saudi Arabia and Korea, noting that oil-related ties proved to be among the best in the world between and oil producer and oil consumer. He vowed that relations between the two countries will strengthen further in the years ahead either as members of the G20 or at the bilateral level. -- SPA
