Speaking on the occasion, Al-Naimi highlighted the significant achievements accomplished by the Kingdom in the last two decades in the petroleum field.

He noted that the decisions pertaining to the petroleum sector taken by King Fahd had yielded positive results and had contributed to achieving balance in the Saudi petroleum market. Al-Naimi noted that the Kingdom's wise oil policy had not only benefited the Saudi economy, but also the world economy.

Al-Naimi pointed out that King Fahd, since early eighties, believed that the Kingdom should adopt a strategic relationship with the oil consuming countries. “To carry out the policy of king Fahd in this respect, the Kingdom had signed in 1988 agreement with Texaco; later similar agreements were signed with Korean, Filipino and Greek companies”, he said. He added arrangements are underway to sign similar agreements with petroleum companies in China and India.

Al-Naimi pointed out that King Fahd is keen on carrying out strategic decisions which serve the country - like Saudization of the petroleum industry.

“King Fahd believes in the importance of building an integrated national Saudi petroleum industry that is capable of standing on its own feet in the competitive international oil market”, he said.

Highlighting the sound Saudi petroleum policy, Al-Naimi said: “Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz had invited the international petroleum companies to invest in the field of oil and gas exploration and development. Moreover, Prince Abdullah had called for the establishment of a Forum for the international energy to undertake dialogue between the oil producing and consuming countries”, he noted.

The Conference was attended by a number of senior officials including Director of King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals Dr Abdul Aziz al-Dakheell and Dr Robert Mabro, the Director of Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

Later Al-Naimi inaugurated the exhibition organized on the fringes of the conference.