OPEC Wrangle Puts UAE’s Ambitions on Display - Bloomberg
Just days before a high-stakes OPEC meeting to support an oil market ravaged by coronavirus, the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company told the world it planned to spend $122 billion to boost production capacity.
That set the stage for a standoff at a meeting of the cartel this week. A compromise was struck but ambitious plans to maximize energy wealth may keep stirring tension—in particular with its largest neighbor Saudi Arabia.
The UAE’s reinvigorated pursuit of petrodollars plays into a wider shift in the dynamic between Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over who in the region holds sway on the international stage.
For years, the two countries moved in lockstep on both oil and foreign policy, yet they have diverged in recent months on both. They split over the war in Yemen, then the UAE asserted itself with its landmark deal with Israel in September. They also have their differences over efforts to ostracize Qatar, with a U.S. brokered deal to end the rift including only Saudi Arabia.
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