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 - 1

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.