50k (even cash) is not nearly enough for the tradeoff of life in a regime like UAE to be worth it.

It really depends. I have always lived on the cheap side, but others go out to expensive bars (almost all in 5-stat hotels) and waste incredibly dumb amounts of money on everything.

Granted, I can drive a SUV at 1.00QR per litre. at 90 octane gasoline, that is basically 20-30 US cents a litre. However, inflation is a dirty word. Last inflation bump came because gov't sector pentions for Qatari citizens were close to doubled, and almost all grocer products increased by at least 1QR (0.20-0.30 USD) overnight. Many went up a lot more. And people were upset, but that is top-down economics.

Don't really think that guy was getting a 50K package.

The salary I can imagine for an American engineer working in Abu Dhabi would be a minimum of 100,000 - 180,000+ USD , and it is tax free (usually comes with additional benefits).

Abu Dhabi is a rich city (they got oil) and they usually pay more than Dubai.

Source: I live here, and run a startup and work with multiple companies and consultants.

He's not an engineer.