Politics seep into oil as diverging goals test Saudi & UAE relations
Like many relationships, the one between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had long rested on two simple principles for when disputes arose: Deal with them behind closed doors or bite your tongue.
After the neighbours’ public spat over future Opec+ oil output, that’s now looking hopelessly old-fashioned and the consequences are rippling out from the Persian Gulf. Most obviously, the tussle has left a question mark over crude supply as major nations emerge from Covid lockdowns. Opec+ abandoned its meeting on Monday without a deal, sending oil past $77.
Oil prices climbed to multi-year highs on Tuesday. Brent crude hit a session high of $77.84, a level not seen since October 2018, before losing momentum and easing to trade $1.95, or 2.53 per cent lower, at $75.21 a barrel by 8.40 pm IST.
