The potential expansion of the BRICS group to include Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia could weigh on the future of the US Dollar’s dominance of global oil markets as BRICS’ share of the global oil markets would significantly increase according to Energy Intelligence and ING.

• The addition of the new members would increase BRICS’ share of global oil production to 42% from 20% currently, specifically if Saudi Arabia was to join the group, according to Energy Intelligence.
• While interest in a system that doesn't rely on the dollar may be growing, it is likely years away from being viable and unseating the dollar's dominance of energy trade could be particularly difficult, EA said.
• Western sanctions on Russia have already supported the trend of de-dollarisation with India settling trades in UAE dirhams, Chinese yuan and, to a lesser extent, local rupees to avoid Indian banks’ concerns about dollar transactions.
• There’s much talk about the yuan as an alternative currency given the size of the Chinese economy and volume of Chinese trade. But the Saudi and the UAE currencies are also pegged to the dollar, limiting their flexibility, while holding large volumes of yuan would complicate that peg according to ING.