Saudi Arabia warns Trump of impact against blocking oil imports

Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih has responded to claims from Trump during his campaign that he will make the US completely energy independent from other states, saying that America benefits as much as anyone from the oil produced in the likes of the Middle East.

"At his heart President-elect Trump will see the benefits and I think the oil industry will also be advising him accordingly that blocking trade in any product is not healthy," al-Falih told the Financial Times at climate talks in Marrakech.

Al-Falih is also the head of Aramco, the Saudi state-run oil company, and is heading the Saudi Arabia team at the Marrakech talks.

"The US continues to be a very important part of a global industry that is interconnected, that is dealing with a fungible commodity which is crude oil," he added. "So having equalization through free trade is very healthy for oil."

Trump scored an unexpected victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton last week, sending global markets into an overnight meltdown, before the waters were calmed in the following days.

Like most world leaders, Saudi Arabia is waiting to see whether Trump will indeed enact a number of controversial policies which he promised to introduce during his election campaign.