By Pesha Magid

RIYADH (Reuters) – Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest producer, is in talks with Saudi Arabia over potential joint investments in the metal, the company’s chairman told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

On Codelco’s output, Chairman Maximo Pacheco said the company’s own production for 2025 was expected to rise by about 70,000 metric tons to around 1.4 million tons.

Pacheco said the state-owned company had been in discussions with Saudi Arabia as there was a clear need on both sides to add value.

“We would be very open to considering joint investment opportunities,” said Pacheco in an interview following a gathering of miners for the kingdom’s annual Future Minerals Forum.

Saudi Arabia has been pursuing critical minerals including copper and lithium, bidding to become a hub for battery and electric vehicle manufacturing as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to wean the economy off oil.

Pacheco said he had met with the Saudi mining minister and representatives from Manara Minerals, a joint venture between Saudi Arabian Company and the kingdom’s $925 billion Public Investment Fund.

He said that he hoped that an announcement from the discussions could emerge in the coming months.

“The markets move very fast. So obviously we need to move fast as well,” said Pacheco.

He said he had discussed technology transfers with Saudi Arabia, noting the kingdom’s experience with desalination. The two sides also talked about introducing new technologies, such artificial intelligence, into mining.

Saudi Arabia’s mining minister Bandar al-Khorayaf previously told Reuters that Saudi Arabia was interested in Chile’s lithium assets.

Codelco has been seeking a partner on a major lithium project in the Maricunga salt flat. Pacheco said the company had short-listed potential investors and Saudi companies were not on that list.

He suggested the board would vote on the project in March.

Faced with declining ore grades, accidents and mistakes at major construction projects, Codelco has been struggling to lift production from 25-year lows and revved up output at the end of the year to hit its 2024 target of reaching 1.328 million metric tons.

By Enes Tunagur

LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Friday, on course for a fourth consecutive week of gains, as the latest U.S. sanctions on Russian energy trade heightened expectations for oil supply disruptions.

futures were trading up 36 cents or 0.4% higher at $81.65 per barrel by 1113 GMT, having gained 2.4% so far this week.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 53 cents or 0.7% at $79.21 a barrel, having climbed 3.5% for the week.

Last Friday, the Biden administration unveiled broader sanctions targeting Russian oil producers and tankers.

“Supply concerns from U.S. sanctions on Russian oil producers and tankers, combined with expectations of a demand recovery driven by potential U.S. interest rate cuts, are bolstering the crude market,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.

Investors are also assessing potential implications of Donald Trump’s return to the White House next Monday. Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary said he was ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russian oil.

“While comments from Rubio and Bessent point in a direction of potential further sanctions impacting oil producers, market participants prefer to wait on what the next U.S. president will decide,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.

Expectations for better demand lent some support to the oil market. Data showed inflation easing in the United States, the world’s biggest economy, bolstering hopes of interest rate cuts.

Traders are also assessing fresh data from China, the world’s top oil importer. Its economy fulfilled the government’s ambitions for 5% growth last year.

Weighing on oil prices were expectations of a halt in attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militia on ships in the Red Sea in the wake of a Gaza ceasefire deal.

The Houthis’ attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing ships to make longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa for more than a year.

The Israeli cabinet is set to approve a deal with militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday.