Nginx proxy_pass : Is it possible to add a static parameter to the URL?

location = /oneapi {
  set $args $args&apiKey=tiger;
  proxy_pass https://api.somewhere.com;
}

The other answers do not work if $args is empty.

This also works if $args is empty.

location /oneapi {
  set $delimeter "";

  if ($is_args) {
    set $delimeter "&";
  }

  set $args "$args${delimeter}apiKey=tiger";

  proxy_pass https://api.somewhere.com/;
}