Aramco, PIF chief to meet key South Korean figures this week

Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, chairman of the world’s top oil company Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Aramco) and governor of the kingdom’s sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund (PIF), is set to discuss cooperation with South Korea’s top government officials and key business leaders this week in Seoul.

Al-Rumayyan is one of the closest aides to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, leading the world’s seventh-largest sovereign wealth fund established in 1971 by royal decree and with $700 billion in assets under management.

Al-Rumayyan is scheduled to visit South Korea Sept. 6-8 and meet high-level government officials and major companies’ top executives including Chung Ki-sun, CEO of HD Hyundai Co., the holding company of the country’s largest shipbuilder, according to industry sources in Seoul on Wednesday. Chung is the conglomerate's heir apparent.

HD Hyundai has been investing in Saudi Arabia by setting up a shipyard in 2017 and an engine company in 2020. HD Hyundai Construction Equipment Co. supplied heavy vehicles to be used on works for the estimated $500 billion Neom megacity project in the oil-rich kingdom.

Al-Rumayyan is also known to be checking in on the 9.3 trillion won ($7 billion) project of S-Oil Corp., Aramco’s refining unit in South Korea, to build a petrochemical complex.

He last visited South Korea in May 2022 to attend the inauguration of President Yoon Suk Yeol as a Saudi envoy.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.