Saudi Arabia has brought in engineering and consulting company Poyry to give advice on a strategy for the use of nuclear and renewable energy, the Finnish group said on Thursday.   

Philipp Elkuch from Poyry's nuclear energy business group said over the next few months the firm would create a long-term roadmap for Saudi Arabia to diversify its energy sources.

"We need to look at long-term energy policy, what they should do in the next (decades) in order to change the way they produce electricity ... also to see what are their options, what is possible and what is not," Elkuch told Reuters.

He said the roadmap would include advice on, for example, what kind of regulatory bodies would be needed in the country and in the case of nuclear energy what international treaties would need to be observed.   

"The whole political, economic and industrial environment needs to be defined," he said. "We don't look at the geopolitical implications ... we will probably highlight some issues, highlight the problems."    

Poyry gave no value for the deal. - Reuters