The UAE showed off its savvy negotiating skills last Friday by playing hardball with OPEC+ members. After being presented an agreement to increase supply until the end of 2022, the UAE was the only OPEC+ member to say no.

The agreement was presented by Russia and Saudi Arabia, leaders of the OPEC+ cartel. While the UAE made clear it supports an unconditional increase in production, it doesn’t think the production deal reached by OPEC+ in 2020 should be extended at this point. According to Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei, “we still have eight to nine months in this agreement, and we’re talking about plenty of time for this to be discussed at a later stage.”

The UAE claims about one-third of its oil production is currently sitting idle, a portion higher than the other members of the group. Mazrouei doesn’t think this is fair and would like for more favorable terms to be reached for his country between now and the end of the current 2020 agreement.