GDP contribution of the mining and quarrying (oil and gas) sector UAE 2010-2019

According to projects for 2020, the mining and quarrying sector including crude oil and gas contributed about 227.14 billion United Arab Emirates Dirham to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United Arab Emirates. This was the leading economic sector of the UAE closely followed by wholesale and retail with 178.7 billion United Arab Emirates dirham in that year.

UAE oil industry

  As of 2019, the United Arab Emirates was one of the top ten crude oil producers worldwide. The volume of crude oil production in that year exceeded one billion barrels. The country was also a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF). It was a major oil producer and exporter and held about 98 billion barrels of crude oil reserves . Each emirate has control over heir oil and gas production processes. The emirate of Abu Dhabi controlled over 90 percent of the country’s reserves. It was handled by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Abu Dhabi’s exports exceeded 800 million barrels in 2019. The largest gas project in the country in 2020 was ADNOC - Hail and Ghasha Sour Gas Development: Package 4.

UAE economy

The UAE’s economy witnessed a sharp decrease in its real GDP growth in 2020 post the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it was expected to recover gradually over the next couple of years. The coronavirus crisis has dealt a heavy blow to the country. This is not only due to the impact of low oil prices, but also a huge loss to important non-oil economic sectors such as tourism. .The largest contributor to Dubai’s GDP in 2021 was the wholesale and retail industry The central bank expected a full economic recovery in 2022. The largest share of announced foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in 2020 in the emirate of Dubai were greenfield projects.