Hydrocarbon revenues constitute 46% of nominal GDP and three-quarters of total exports of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, reported Gulf News.

Gulf economies’ excessive dependence on the hydrocarbon sector may make them extremely vulnerable to other economies and sovereign credit strength, reported Standard & Poor’s Rating Services (S&P’s), highlighting that among the GCC oil exporters, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ahead of the rest.

“We view the GCC states’ dependence on the oil and gas sector as a key vulnerability. A sharp and sustained fall in the oil price or in hydrocarbon export volumes would significantly dent their economic and financial indicators,” said Trevor Cullinan a credit analyst with S&P's.

Among the six GCC countries, the UAE is the least vulnerable to oil price declines or to export volume declines, despite being highly oil dependent. This is because the UAE is the most diversified in the GCC region. This is despite the fact that Abu Dhabi is still heavily oil-dependent with hydrocarbons forming a proportion of nominal GDP and government revenues reaching 55% and 65% respectively, noted Remy Carasse, an S&P analyst.