The admission of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran to the BRICS group will increase its energy dominance, according to an analysis released by the Netherland-based bank ING.

On Wednesday, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE were invited to become full members of BRICS effective 1st January 2024. 

The analysis, published on ING’s THINK economic and financial analysis platform, noted that the existing BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa make up around 20 percent of global oil output.

“The addition of Saudi, the UAE and Iran would see the BRICS group make up almost 42 percent of global crude oil output,” the analysis, published on Thursday, said.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, accounted for a little more than 17 percent of global crude oil exports in 2022.

“The bulk of these exports (76 percent) go to Asia, of which 35 percent go to BRICS members China and India,” the ING analysis said.

On the trade front, according to the analysis, the core BRICS countries currently control around 23 percent of global exports and 19 percent of global imports, and the new members would add 3.7 percent and 3.0 percent to that.

“Overall, the new additions would expand the weight of BRICS in global trade by around 16 percent,” it stated.

(Writing by Anoop Menon; Editing by SA Kader)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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