Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI ― The Gulf Cooperation Council has again been urged to diversify its oil-based economies.

[See also: Saudis confident environmentalists will stall U.S. shale revolution]

A leading financial consultant has warned that the six GCC states must reduce dependence on crude oil exports. PineBridge Investments, with a presence in the Gulf, said the GCC as well as other Arab states could be hampered by Western economies, particularly the United States, in 2014.

The quiet shale oil revolution in the United States has alarmed the oil exporting states in the region which has nonetheless downplayed the perceived threat.

The Jadwa Investment bank has reported that U.S. shale production marked a greater threat to Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical sector than the kingdom’s crude oil exports.

“Economies in the Middle East and North Africa face a different set of
policy challenges next year,” Talal Alzain, chief executive officer of
PineBridge Investments Middle East, said.

The company has forecast GCC economic growth of 3.8 percent in 2014, an
increase from 2.1 percent this year. Alzain said the growth would be based
on increased oil production.

  Gulf Cooperation Council, Gulf economies told to reduce dependence on crude oil exports, Jadwa Investment bank, PineBridge Investments