Saudi Crown Prince promises stable oil supply to Japan

TOKYO - Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman promised stable oil supplies to Japan in a video conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a media release.

The crown prince told Kishida that "Saudi Arabia remains committed to the stable supply of crude oil to Japan and that Saudi Arabia would like to cooperate with Japan in other areas including the field of clean energy," it said.

On Monday, the crown prince suddenly postponed his visit to Japan, which was scheduled for May 20-23, due to a health issue for King Salman. The crown prince had been scheduled to meet with Kishida and Japanese Emperor Naruhito.

Kishida told the crown prince that he expected the kingdom to continue playing a leading role in stabilising the global oil market, including through further production increases, the release said.

Kishida also said he would like to work with Saudi Arabia towards establishing a global supply chain for clean energy such as hydrogen and ammonia, according to the release.

Earlier on Tuesday, Japan and Saudi Arabia held a bilateral business forum in Tokyo to discuss further collaboration in energy and other industries, despite the crown prince's absence.

During the Saudi-Japan Vision 2030 Business Forum, Japanese industry minister Ken Saito met Saudi delegates including energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, investment minister Khalid Al-Falih and Saudi companies.

"Saudi Arabia is Japan's biggest supplier of crude oil and one of the most important partners in terms of energy security," Saito told the forum.

In an effort to deepen their ties, over 30 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) were signed by the two sides on Tuesday ranging from energy to the financial sector and manufacturing.

Saudi Power Procurement Company said it had signed two power purchase agreements with a consortium led by Japanese trading house Marubeni to procure power from AlGhat wind project (600 megawatts) and Waad Alshamal wind project (500 megawatts).