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As epicentres of the production of hydrocarbon, the Gulf States must adapt to an energy scene upset by the arrival of new resources on the market and by the historic reversal of demand in European countries. Consuming less energy and developing alternative sources in order to reserve hydrocarbon for exports : such is the huge challenge for countries whose social contract is based on unlimited consumption of subsidized energy. In the long term, their economic, social and political stability is at stake, together with their ability to remain key actors of the world energy system.