Saudi Arabia plans to use local uranium to develop its nuclear energy industry, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said, Reuters reproted.

He said recent exploration showed a diverse portfolio of uranium reserves in the Gulf Arab state, the world's largest oil exporter.

Saudi Arabia has a nascent nuclear program that it wants to expand to eventually include uranium enrichment, a sensitive area given its role in nuclear weapons. Riyadh has said it wants to use nuclear energy to diversify its energy mix.

It is unclear where its ambitions end, as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in 2018 that the kingdom would develop nuclear weapons if Iran did.

He said this would include the entire nuclear fuel cycle, including yellowcake production, low-enriched uranium and nuclear fuel production both for our national use and, of course, for export.

Another Gulf state, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has the Arab world's first multi-unit operating nuclear power plant. The UAE has pledged not to enrich uranium or reprocess spent fuel.

Nuclear reactors need uranium enriched to about 5% purity, but the same technology in this process can also be used to enrich the heavy metal to higher, weapons-grade levels.