"As of today, we do not see that the market is suffering from a shortage of oil, but there is a lack of refining capacity, which is a problem," he said.

Speaking from Tokyo at an Arab News Japan Roundtable talk session on Tuesday, the minister reaffirmed the Kingdom's commitment to the stability of energy markets.

“Our focus is on maintaining the stability of oil markets through the OPEC+ group and the dialogue within the group is very active and responds to the need of the oil market. The global pandemic has affected our partnership with Japan to a certain extent,” he said.

“One of the reasons I am here is to make sure we can maintain the momentum we had in our relations with Japan before the pandemic. Even before this visit, we worked with our colleagues in the Japanese government to make sure that we continue to work on all the agenda items that we have been working on for the past several years and today we are focused on the future,” he pointed out.

The minister continued his talk on strengthening Saudi-Japanese relations despite the gap caused by the pandemic, which lasted for two years.

He pointed out that "the sudden death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was a great tragedy that we felt its repercussions in the Kingdom.”

Prince Faisal said: “We have always considered Abe as a true statesman and a great friend of the Kingdom and someone who has been instrumental in strengthening the relations between our two countries. We were deeply saddened and shocked by his death."