The more moderate and pro-Western states within OPEC like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates understand that high energy costs are hurting demand and might push consumers to seek alternatives to oil and are thus keen to keep oil at around or even below $100 a barrel, in order to also ease the political backlash against the cartel. Another group, composed of OPEC’s traditional price hawks, such as Iran and Venezuela increasingly need high prices to finance a wide range of social and political policies and to maintain their power play and influence in their respective regions.