The king of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, is currently on a tour of Asian countries. The monthlong tour is meant to not only call for greater cooperation and investment to the country, but also to build long-term, stable relations with major Asian economies that are key oil consumers.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz started his tour in late February in Malaysia and Indonesia. He also plans to visit China, Japan and other countries.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak welcomed King Salman and posted a selfie photo of himself with the king.

In line with the tour, Saudi Arabian Oil, better known as Saudi Aramco, the Middle Eastern country's state-owned oil producer, on Feb. 28 said it had sealed a $7 billion deal to invest in a petrochemical refinery project in Malaysia's southern state of Johor, led by Malaysia's state-owned Petronas. The core refinery at the site, scheduled to start operations in 2019, will be capable of processing 300,000

barrels a day. Aramco plans to provide up to 70% of the crude to be processed at the refinery. CEO Amin Nasser stressed that the company sees plenty of growth opportunities in Southeast Asia. For Indonesia, Saudi Aramco in December concluded an agreement with Indonesia's state oil company Pertamina to jointly expand the Cilacap Refinery in central Java.

Local advantage Asia as a whole is the largest consumer of Saudi oil products. Having refineries in the region is an advantage for the Middle Eastern country in cutting both transportation and manpower costs. It will be also beneficial in building a stable customer base in Asia for its crude oil.

In January, OPEC and non-OPEC oil producing countries agreed on output cuts. Saudi Arabia has accepted the largest production reduction, and is actually reducing production even more than the agreed quota. That attitude by a leading OPEC economy has helped bring a certain confidence to the market, and oil prices are improved. Benchmark North Sea Brent prices are stably hovering at the mid-$50 per barrel range, although increasing shale oil production in the U.S. has hampered the price from rising further.

While leading the oil production cut efforts, Saudi Arabia has no intention of letting its clients go. Its plans of massive investment in Asia, despite the hardship from crude oil slumps that started in 2014, clearly indicate that the country is fully committed to expanding further into the region.

The oil production cut this time is a temporary measure over six months, and the oil producers will discuss whether they will extend the reduction period that is set until June at the next OPEC regular meeting scheduled for May.

Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, is keeping a cautious stance on the extension, and the future of the joint efforts on oil production cuts remains uncertain.