Saudi Arabia: Naimi on charm offensive in China


Issue 992 - 08 May 2015 | 3 minute read

Minister of petroleum and mineral resources Ali Al-Naimi visited China and South Korea in late April, where he stuck to his mantra that Saudi Arabia will focus on its market share. China, which imports roughly 1m b/d of Saudi crude, remains a key market for Saudi Arabia. But in the past year, improving Sino-Russian relations have seen the Saudis lose valuable ground to Russia, a trend Riyadh is anxious to curtail. Saudi oil accounted for about 16% of Chinese oil imports in 2014, compared to 19% the previous year, while Russian imports were up to 11% in 2014 from around 9% in 2013.

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