Saudi Aramco to hold board meeting in S. Korea next month

Economy 18:00 February 24, 2023

SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Yonhap) -- Saudi Arabian Oil Company, one of the world's largest crude oil exporters, will hold a meeting of its board of directors in Seoul next month, with its chairman also likely to attend the annual gathering, industry sources here said Friday.

It is the third time that Saudi's state-run oil giant, also called Saudi Aramco, will hold its annual board meeting in South Korea, the world's fifth-largest crude importer, following the first in 2011 and the second in 2015.

Along with board members, its Chairman Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan is expected to come to South Korea to attend the event slated for early next month, according to the sources.

But the detailed list of participants is not yet determined, they added.

Al-Rumayyan, who also governs the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, had visited Seoul in May last year to attend the inauguration ceremony of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Saudi Aramco is the largest shareholder of S-Oil, South Korea's No. 3 oil refiner, with a 63.4 percent stake.

During the visit of the board members, S-Oil will hold a groundbreaking ceremony of a large-scale petrochemical plant in the nation's southeastern city of Ulsan on March 6 to mark the start of the Shaheen project.

The US$7 billion project was announced late last year when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited South Korea. The project is expected to be completed by 2026.