U.S. continues talks with Saudi Arabia on nuclear energy and LNG
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Topics: U.S. SAUDI ARABIA NUCLEAR D LNG
Next week, Rick Perry will meet in Riyadh with Abdulaziz bin Salman, the energy minister for Saudi Arabia which had previously stated its ambitions to enrich its own uranium deposits to produce nuclear power.
"I think there is a bigger issue," Perry told reporters at a press briefing in Dubai. "You've got to have the right amount and you've got to have the right quality of uranium before you can be enriching it. There is a fairly substantial school of thought that the uranium supply in the kingdom is not in that quality or that quantity either."
Perry added that any nuclear agreement and protocols with Saudi Arabia would need approval of the U.S. Congress.
Investors and government officials are meeting in Riyadh next week for the Future Investment Initiative sponsored by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, a conference that has been called Davos in the Desert.
The US is also holding talks with countries in the region, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, to import US LNG, Perry said.
"Obviously with the peculiarities of the region and where the gas comes from and although this is an incredibly gas rich region there are some restrictions and challenges on how that gas moves around," Perry said. ■