Saudi Arabia 's oil minister Ali Al Naimi met Monday U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu in Riyadh and discussed common energy interests between the two states, state-run Saudi Press Agency, or SPA, reports.

"The U.S. is considered the largest consumer and importer...the two countries (Saudi and the U.S. ) have strong cooperation in the fields of petroleum investments," Naimi said, according to SPA.

He did not specify whether the U.S. is still the largest consumer of the Saudi crude.

Chu 's trip to Saudi Arabia , United Arab Emirates , and Qatar comes as the Obama administration continues its efforts to wean the U.S. off oil imports and targets the petroleum industry for tax hikes and greenhouse gas emission reductions.

It also comes as several of the countries ramp up spending on renewable and clean energy projects, hoping to become technology hubs.

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