| Danial Norjidi |
THE economic diversification plans of Brunei and Saudi Arabia, along with other potential areas for further collaboration such as the supply of crude oil from Saudi Arabia to develop Brunei Darussalam’s growing downstream petrochemical sector, and potential investment by companies from Saudi Arabia in Brunei Darussalam’s ammonia and urea project, as well as other projects of interest were discussed between Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar, Minister of Energy and Industry at the Prime Minister’s Office and Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia yesterday morning.
The meeting with Khalid Al-Falih, who was in Brunei for a courtesy visit, was framed around the close brotherly and fraternal ties and exceptional cooperation between Brunei Darussalam and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia following the official visit by His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to Brunei Darussalam in March 2017.
Both His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and His Majesty King Salman have highlighted the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation in several areas of common interest including the areas of energy, investment and economy.
The visit by Khalid Al-Falih, the Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Brunei Darussalam was therefore timely, with the directive of both leaders, where both countries can have the opportunity to explore further bilateral cooperation and economic opportunities.
During the bilateral meeting, both ministers discussed the economic diversification plans of both countries and discussed several potential areas to explore and collaborate in such as the supply of crude oil from Saudi Arabia to develop Brunei Darussalam’s growing downstream petrochemical sector, and potential investment by companies from Saudi Arabia in Brunei Darussalam’s ammonia and urea project as well as other projects of interest.
Khalid Al-Falih also invited officials from Brunei Darussalam to learn from the experiences of the oil and gas industry in Saudi Arabia.
Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar, Minister of Energy and Industry at the Prime Minister’s Office and Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the meeting yesterday
Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar, Minister of Energy and Industry at the Prime Minister’s Office , and Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the event yesterday. – PHOTOS: EIDPMO
Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin in a group photo with Khalid Al-Falih at the Royal Regalia Building
The ministers also discussed the potential of extending the existing OPEC/non-OPEC Declaration of Cooperation signed in December 2016, which set out the adjustment of crude oil production from participating countries – including Brunei Darussalam and Saudi Arabia – from July 2017 to December 2017 with the main objective of stabilising and rebalancing oil prices.
Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin informed Khalid Al-Falih that Brunei has no objection to agreeing to an extension of the aforementioned declaration. In response to this, Khalid Al-Falih expressed hope that other participating countries would follow suit.
Speaking to the Bulletin after the meeting, the visiting minister shared, “First of all I’m honoured and delighted to be here in Brunei. This is certainly a country that we hold in the highest regard, a brotherly nation with majority Muslims that share our faith and values.”
In terms of the bilateral relationship between Brunei and Saudi Arabia, Khalid Al-Falih said he was impressed with the report he received about Brunei’s economic diversification and transformation plans which he described as “visionary and bold”.
Speaking on potential investment opportunities in Brunei for companies from Saudi Arabia, he said, “Saudi Arabia is a much bigger economy with already established experiences in some industries, so we agreed that Saudi companies in the area of petrochemicals, for example, will pursue investment opportunities in Brunei, building on projects that have already taken place for integrated refining petrochemical investment, and this will span the whole range of petrochemicals, from aromatics to polymers to methanol to glycol – anything that we can identify as commercially viable with the resource base that is abundant here.
“I think our enterprises, especially SABIC in the petrochemicals and possibly Saudi Aramco, will be interested.
“We also spoke about fertilisers. You already have plans in Brunei for a urea manufacturing facility, and our company Ma’aden, which has one of the largest phosphate projects as well as urea production within the Kingdom, is probably interested to look at the opportunities that are available.”
The minister also referred to the oil refinery and aromatics complex being built by Hengyi Industries at Pulau Muara Besar, saying, “Aramco will be more than delighted to enter into an agreement to supply the crude feedstock to that refinery, or at least part of it, because you have your indigenous resources here in Brunei.
“In addition, I think we reaffirmed our interest to just deepen the people-to-people relationships. We welcome the great people of Brunei to come to the Kingdom, perform their religious duties of Haj and Umrah, and Saudis would very much enjoy the opportunity to discover and visit Brunei, and enjoy your nature and your hospitality, and we hope we’ll be seeing more travel and trade and investment between our two countries, and of course the political leadership at all levels will stay in touch.
“We will consult, coordinate and move forward together as we get ever closer despite the geographical distance between our two countries, I think our hearts are very much closer to each other,” he added.
Following the meeting, Khalid Al-Falih visited the Royal Regalia Building and then proceeded to have lunch, hosted by Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin, before departing Brunei Darussalam in the afternoon.
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