UAE wants to maximise fossil revenues while demand still healthy: WSJ

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - The United Arab Emirates wants to maximise crude revenues while demand is still healthy, a senior oil executive from the country told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday, making public the petrostate's desire for increased market share amid an OPEC+ deadlock which has seen discussions put on hold for several days.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are said to be at loggerheads over agreed production increases, with the UAE happy with the plan in principle but seeking to secure a greater share of overall production within the OPEC+ group.

"Market share is a key factor here," said a senior UAE oil executive quoted by the WSJ.

"We want a bigger market share, to monetize as much as we can from our reserves, especially when we have spent billions developing them."

The country still holds decades worth of oil reserves, even accounting for plans to ramp up production to 5 million barrels per day by 2030.

Like other states which rely heavily on fossil fuel revenues, the country wants to diversify energy production and the wider economy ahead of a forecasted drop in oil demand, and it wants to use the cash flow generated by fossil fuels to achieve this.

Investment in renewable energy is expected to grow by multiples higher than that for fossil fuels in the Middle East over the next five years.

Global oil benchmarks dipped in London afternoon trading after the UAE said it wants to boost output.