Saudi Arabia will help stabilise oil market, Crown Prince tells Japanese PM

FILE PHOTO: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman speaks during the Gulf Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 14, 2021. Bandar Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS

TOKYO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a phone conversation that the kingdom would contribute to the stabilisation of the international crude oil market, the Japanese government said on Thursday.

Tight global supplies and geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East have boosted oil prices by about 15% so far this year.

Kishida said that Japan would like to work with Saudi Arabia towards oil market stabilisation, a written summary of the conversation between the two leaders showed.

The prime minister, who took office in October, also told the Saudi leader that Tokyo intended to support the kingdom's industrial diversification and other reform efforts, the summary said.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Jan Harvey and Tomasz Janowski)

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