Saudi Arabia, US reach agreement on energy-sector cooperation
Saudi Arabia-USA, Economics, 2/10/1999

Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali al-Naimi and US Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson reached an agreement between the two countries on US companies entering the Saudi petroleum market.

Richardson told CNBC today that Saudi Arabia wants investment in the natural gas area, and that there may be future opportunities in the oil sector as well.

Al-Naimi and Richardson said on Saturday in a joint statement that the two countries "welcomed the extensive existing investments in each other's energy sectors and look forward to expanded opportunities in this area."

"The two sides agreed to enhance their cooperation by launching a process for the negotiation of technical cooperation memoranda. Each side agreed to establish a team for the purpose of these negotiations and to coordinate with other concerned bodies of their respective governments," the joint statement said.

Richardson said in his prepared remarks before leaving Riyadh that the agreement "pledges increased cooperation in the realm of energy and in the realm of science and technology. On investment, we heard very good news."

"The Saudis also described their desire for investment in natural gas power production, and gas-to-liquids," he said. "On the oil side, they indicated their, interest in petrochemicals and refining, storage, and efficiencies in oil production. They also asked me to encourage U.S. companies to consider additional joint ventures in engineering and support services."

Richardson also laid out a plan that will be enacted, according to the agreement, saying, "Saudi officials will visit the United States in early March to continue, discussions and explore opportunities for joint workshops and cooperative research in areas such as basic energy research and energy information and planning; environmental impact and water resource modeling; water desalinization; and natural gas, mining, energy efficiency and environmental technologies."

Previous Stories:
  Saudi - Lebanese agreement at US $100 million for investments   (2/9/1999)
  US energy secretary to visit Saudi Arabia, UAE   (2/5/1999)
  More than 30,500 Saudis visited Morocco in 1998   (1/29/1999)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search