<span style="color: #222222;">Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih today called for a swift and decisive response to threats against energy supplies following twin attacks on tankers in a vital Gulf shipping channel. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He was speaking at a meeting of G20 Energy and Environment Ministers in Japan after the attacks on Thursday, which sent crude prices soaring amid a tense standoff between Iran and the US.<br />'' <br />'' The Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous was carrying highly inflammable methanol through the Gulf of Oman when it was rocked by explosions, causing a blaze that was quickly extinguished.<br />'' <br />'' Falih has previously said the Kingdom was monitoring the situation with great concern and called for action to secure maritime traffic. Saudi Arabia, a close US ally, is a bitter regional rival of Iran.<br />'' <br />''<br />''Iran has repeatedly warned in the past that it could block the strategic Hormuz Strait in a relatively low-tech, high-impact countermeasure to any attack by the United States.</span>