Abdul Aziz, Saudi Arabia's deputy minister for petroleum and mineral resources, will attend a shareholders' meeting of Arabian Oil Co. set for Thursday in Tokyo, industry sources said Friday.
The deputy minister, who is a director on Arabian Oil's board, is expected to discuss the future of the company, which last month lost the drilling concessions in the Saudi-controlled portion of the Khafji oil field. near the former neutral zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Arabian Oil , Japan's largest oil producer, is partially owned by the Saudi government.
This will be the first visit by a Saudi government official since the company lost the concessions.