South Korea, Saudi Arabia deepen energy ties, expand cooperation in minerals and advanced industries

South Korea and Saudi Arabia have agreed to strengthen medium- and long-term cooperation in the energy and natural resources sector.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan met with Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Saturday (local time) and signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral cooperation in crude oil and natural gas, the ministry said Sunday.

Under the MOU, the two countries agreed to cooperate across seven areas: crude oil stockpiling; pipeline infrastructure development; energy and resource technology innovation through AI and digital transformation; technology development to enhance environmental and economic sustainability; petrochemical materials development and utilization; infrastructure development to improve energy resource accessibility; and business-to-business cooperation.

Kim traveled to Saudi Arabia as a follow-up to a presidential special envoy visit in April and also reviewed the current supply situation for crude oil and naphtha. Both sides agreed to work to ensure that agreed supply volumes are delivered without disruption through the end of the year.

Kim also held separate meetings with Saudi Investment Minister Faisal Al-Ibrahim and Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef, reviewing the progress of South Korean companies' projects in the country.

He checked on the status of the Hyundai Motor-Public Investment Fund joint automotive factory project, which is set to begin full-scale mass production next year, and the HD Korea Shipbuilding-Aramco joint shipyard IMI project — the largest of its kind in the Middle East — and requested active support from the Saudi government for both.

Building on successful models in the manufacturing sector, South Korea and Saudi Arabia plan to expand cooperation into minerals and advanced industries such as AI.

The two countries agreed to pursue full-cycle cooperation spanning extraction, smelting and processing, and advanced industry development, with particular attention to Saudi Arabia's mineral resources and South Korea's technological capabilities and mineral demand.

To that end, the two countries' research institutions plan to jointly pursue Saudi mineral deposit exploration and the development of national geological information databases.

"Reconfirming a stable supply of key national resources and laying the groundwork for medium- and long-term resource cooperation amid ongoing global supply chain instability is the greatest achievement of this Saudi visit," Kim said. "We will continue to expand economic cooperation across manufacturing, advanced industries and other areas going forward."