The United States, the UAE, and Israel will pursue a joint energy strategy as a means to improve the security of the region.
In a statement carried by the Emirati state news agency WAM, the three countries’ energy ministers said: "The United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, and the State of Israel, acknowledging the benefits of focusing on pragmatic steps that have tangible outcomes, agree to encourage greater coordination in the energy sector, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, oil, natural gas resources and related technologies, and water desalination technologies.”
“Together, our dynamic economies will look to leverage world-leading research and development capacities to meet the needs of current and future generations. We will also seek to find solutions to the energy challenges faced by the Palestinian people through the development of energy resources, technologies, and related infrastructure.”
The announcement of that new partnership comes soon after the UAE and Bahrain became the first Arab countries in decades to establish diplomatic relations with the state of Israel. Both are oil producers, while Israel is an emerging natural gas producer with ambitions to become a significant exporter of the commodity.
The announcement is the latest example of how the current crisis is forging partnerships that may have looked unlikely before. All major oil producers, including those in the Middle East, are suffering the effects the pandemic has had on oil demand, and the natural gas sector is not doing too well, either, threatening Israel’s ambitions to become one of the largest exporters in the region.
But there were also geopolitical motivations behind the alliance. As per Oilprice.com’s Simon Watkins, “More than any other outcomes from this deal, the UAE wanted to put itself firmly in the U.S.’s most-favoured allies for receiving future business and financing deals, as it suffered a big hit from the Saudi-led oil price war that just ended, and to be included in the U.S.-Israel intelligence and security network to protect itself from Iran.”
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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