The visits to countries that are some of world's fastest growing importers of Saudi oil aim to promote investment opportunities in the kingdom, including the sale of a stake in its giant state firm Saudi Aramco. Saudi Arabia has sought to boost oil sales to China, the world's second-largest oil market, after losing market share to Russia last year, by working mostly with China's top three state oil firms. "Practical cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia has already made major achievements, and has huge potential." An MoU with state-run Norinco will look into building refining and chemical projects in China, while Saudi Basic Industries Corp 2010.SE (SABIC) and Sinopec have agreed to develop petrochemical projects in China and Saudi Arabia. Xi visited both Saudi Arabia and Iran in January last year.

Source: Egypt Independent March 16, 2017 06:11 UTC