South Korea And Saudi Arabia Use Crude Oil, But They Are Also Interested In Sustainable Energy.

In Saudi Arabia, a group headed by South Korea's leader signed a formal agreement to investigate a proposal to generate a possibly greener kind of energy. Despite the fact that Saudi Arabia is still South Korea's biggest petroleum products supplier, this development is significant.

Moon Jae-in, South Korean President and his wife were welcomed at the airport by Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince and an honor guard marching band as part of a Mideast tour. In keeping with coronavirus social distancing protocols, all were veiled, same were followed by President Moon.

Senior officials and executives from South Korea's POSCO, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and Samsung's C&T division entered into a memorandum of agreement.

South Korea has pressed ahead with measures to reduce carbon emissions, with the goal of being carbon negative by 2050. Saudi Arabia, one of the world's largest oil and gas producers, pledged last year to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060.

Nonetheless, both countries are heavily reliant on oil and gas. South Korea's ties with Saudi Arabia extend back to the early 1960s and have been bolstered by the country's dependence on fuel imports to drive its industrial sectors and refineries ever since.

Saudi Arabia supplies over a third of South Korea's oil imports, ranking it the country's biggest oil supplier.

As per 2018 research issued by the King Faisal Center, oil accounts for more than 90 percent of South Korea's purchases from Saudi Arabia. South Korean export to the kingdom is similarly uninteresting, mainly consisting of autos and construction machinery. Construction accounts for about 90 percent of South Korea's investments in Saudi Arabia.

Even though the Saudi economy looks highly dependent on oil and gas exports for income, the crown prince's 2030 vision plan calls for foreign investment & generation of new industries and in non-oil sectors such as atomic energy, artificial intelligence, construction, healthcare, and education.

Prince Mohammed and President Moon discussed future military and sophisticated weapons systems agreements with Riyadh, and also Korea's nuclear reactors, according to the Korean press. Moon's government has expressed interest in South Korea participating in a large nuclear power plant project in Saudi Arabia in the past.

South Koreans assisted in the construction of the $20 billion Barakah nuclear power station in the United Arab Emirates, the first of its type on the Arabian Peninsula.