South Korea and Saudi Arabia will sign 51 deals and memorandums of understanding (MOU) worth a total of US$15.6 billion on the occasion of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the Arab country, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The agreements will be signed on Sunday and Monday during a bilateral investment forum, a ceremony marking 50 years of construction cooperation between the two countries, and following a summit meeting between Yoon and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to senior presidential secretary for economic affairs Choi Sang-mok.
The contracts and MOUs cover a wide range of sectors, including crude oil, hydrogen energy, statistics, food and medical products.
Among them is a contract between the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. and Saudi Arabia's state-run oil giant, Saudi Aramco, to create a joint crude oil reserve of 5.3 million barrels at a storage facility in the South Korean city of Ulsan by 2028.
Under the deal, South Korea will have priority purchasing rights to the oil in a supply and demand emergency and earn rent over a five-year lease period.
The two governments will also agree to a "hydrogen oasis cooperation initiative," which will call for the establishment of separate working groups for each step of the hydrogen "value chain," from its production to distribution and use, and systematically support relevant projects between the two countries' businesses.
In addition, the two countries' statistics agencies will sign an agreement on sharing information and material on statistical production.
Choi told reporters the new deals will add to the $29 billion worth of MOUs and contracts signed during the crown prince's visit to Seoul last November.
