SEOUL, Oct. 20 (BNA) South Korea and the Sultanate of Oman have agreed to enhance cooperation in energy and new industrial fields to ensure the stability of energy supply chains, the Ministry of Commerce said here.
According to Yonhap News Agency, this consensus was reached during a meeting between Minister of Commerce Ahn Duc-jeon and Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Middle Eastern country Khalifa bin Ali Al-Harthy.
Officials shared the need to secure stable energy supplies through joint efforts amid increasing uncertainty in the global market, particularly as natural gas accounts for about 80 percent of the total trade between the two countries.
In 2021, Oman was the fourth largest supplier of LNG to South Korea, accounting for 9.6% of Seoul’s total LNG imports. South Korea ranked first in Oman’s LNG buyer, accounting for 44.2 percent of Oman’s total gas exports.
The ministry said in a statement that they also agreed to expand cooperation to include renewable energy, green hydrogen and other new sectors.
During the meeting, Ahn indicated that South Korean companies participated in various development projects in the Sultanate of Oman, including the Duqm Refinery project, and expressed his hope to continue contributing to the development of the Middle Eastern country.
The ministry said it also suggested holding a meeting of the joint economic committee at an early date to discuss detailed ways to enhance cooperation in the field of investment and energy.
Government data showed that during the first nine months of this year, the bilateral trade volume reached 4.47 billion US dollars, which is much higher than the 3.39 billion dollars for the whole of 2021.
SM