Saudi Arabia Reaffirms Crude Oil and Naphtha Supply to Korea... Expands Cooperation to Minerals and AI

Minister Kim Junggwan Visits Saudi Arabia, Signs MOU on Crude Oil and Gas Cooperation
Hyundai Motor and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Review Saudi Joint Projects

On the 14th, the "K-Consumer Goods Export Supply Chain Strengthening Financial Support Agreement Ceremony between Korea Trade Insurance Corporation and Woori Bank" was held at the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Kim Jung-kwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, who attended the ceremony, is giving a greeting. 2026.04.14 Photo by Dongju Yoon

Amid ongoing instability in the Middle East, South Korea and Saudi Arabia have reaffirmed their cooperation in crude oil and gas supply chains and agreed to expand the scope of collaboration to include minerals and advanced industries.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that Minister Kim Jung-kwan visited Saudi Arabia on June 13-14 to discuss cooperation in the energy and industrial sectors. This visit serves as a follow-up to the Middle East tour by President Lee Jaemyung's special envoy delegation in April. At that time, Saudi Arabia had pledged to give top priority to supplying crude oil and naphtha to South Korea.

Minister Kim met with Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, to review the implementation status of crude oil and naphtha supply. Both sides agreed to cooperate to ensure that the promised volumes are delivered without disruption by the end of the year.

The two countries also signed a "Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Korea-Saudi Cooperation in Crude Oil and Gas." The agreement covers not only collaboration in the oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors, but also includes crude oil stockpiling, pipeline infrastructure development, energy technology innovation based on artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation, technology development for sustainability, development of petrochemical materials, and expanded cooperation between companies.

Minister Kim next met with Fahad Alsaif, Minister of Investment, and Bandar AlKhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, to review industrial cooperation projects being pursued by companies from both countries. In particular, he examined the progress of the local automobile manufacturing plant project jointly promoted by Hyundai Motor and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), as well as the International Maritime Industries (IMI) project, a joint shipyard venture between HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Aramco, and requested active support from the Saudi government.

The Hyundai Motor-PIF joint venture plant is aiming to begin mass production next year with facilities capable of producing 50,000 electric and internal combustion vehicles annually. The IMI shipyard, covering 4.96 million square meters—about the size of 700 soccer fields—is the largest shipyard in the Middle East and plans to build approximately 40 very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and other vessels each year.

The two countries also agreed to advance cooperation in the mineral sector, in addition to automotive and shipbuilding manufacturing. The plan is to link Saudi Arabia’s mineral resources—including sulfur, phosphate rock, bauxite, and rare earth elements—with Korea’s refining and processing technologies, thereby establishing a supply chain cooperation model covering everything from mining to processing and application in advanced industries.

To this end, the countries will also promote the establishment of a cooperative foundation between research institutions for mineral exploration and the development of national geological information. In addition, they discussed ways to expand the scope of cooperation to advanced industries, including artificial intelligence.

Minister Kim stated, "The greatest achievement of this visit was to reaffirm the stable supply of key resources such as crude oil and naphtha, and to lay the foundation for medium- to long-term resource cooperation amid ongoing global supply chain instability. Based on the achievements in industrial cooperation so far, we will continue to expand economic cooperation across various fields, including manufacturing and advanced industries."

Following his visit to Saudi Arabia, Minister Kim is scheduled to visit Qatar on June 15 and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on June 16 to discuss cooperation in crude oil and gas supply chains, as well as collaboration in the nuclear power, plant, and new industry sectors.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.