DUBAI, United Arab Emirates \u2014 The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday it will leave OPEC effective May 1, stripping the oil cartel of its third-largest producer and further weakening its leverage over global oil supplies and prices.<\/p>\n
The UAE\u2019s decision had been rumored as a possibility for some time, as it pushed back in recent years against OPEC production quotas it felt had been too low \u2014 meaning it wasn\u2019t able to sell as much oil to the world as it had wanted. <\/p>\n
\u201cHaving invested heavily in expanding energy production capacity in recent years, the bigger picture is that the UAE has been itching to pump more oil,\u201d Capital Economics wrote in an analysis. \u201cThe ties binding OPEC members together have loosened,\u201d it said, particularly after Qatar withdrew from the cartel in 2019.<\/p>\n
Regional politics are also likely at play. The UAE has had increasingly frosty relations with Saudi Arabia, OPEC\u2019s largest producer, over political and economic matters in the Mideast, even after both came under attack by fellow OPEC member Iran during the war.<\/p>\n
No immediate impact likely for world oil markets<\/p>\n
The UAE\u2019s withdrawal from OPEC won\u2019t necessarily have any immediate effects in markets. That\u2019s because world oil supplies are sharply constrained by the war in Iran, which has closed off the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil supplies \u2014 including much of the UAE\u2019s \u2014 is transported. On Tuesday, Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded above US$111 a barrel, or more than 50 per cent above its prewar price.<\/p>\n
OPEC accounts for roughly 40 per cent of the world\u2019s oil output, but its market power had been waning in recent years as the United States ramped up production. While Saudi Arabia had been producing more than 10 million barrels of oil a day before the war, the U.S. pumps more than 13 million barrels a day.<\/p>\n
U.S. President Donald Trump has been a steady critic of the cartel during his two terms in the White House. <\/p>\n
The UAE, which joined OPEC through its emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1967, had been producing around 3.4 million barrels of crude a day just before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on Feb. 28. Analysts say it has capacity to produce roughly 5 million barrels a day.<\/p>\n
In its announcement on Tuesday, made via its state-run WAM news agency, the UAE said it also would leave the wider OPEC+ group, which Russia had led to try to stabilize oil prices. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision reflects the UAE\u2019s long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile, including accelerated investment in domestic energy production,\u201d the UAE said, adding that it would bring \u201cadditional production to market in a gradual and measured manner, aligned with demand and market conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3Y6DJJGMNUJXL3EVUAJRZRM2QA.jpg\")
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is seen outside of OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2022. (AP Photo\/Lisa Leutner, File) The logo of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is seen outside of OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2022. (AP Photo\/Lisa Leutner) <\/p>\n
The UAE\u2019s withdrawal removes one of OPEC\u2019s few members with the ability to quickly increase production, said Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy. <\/p>\n
\u201cA structurally weaker OPEC, with less spare capacity concentrated within the group, will find it increasingly difficult to calibrate supply and stabilize prices,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia, UAE increasingly at odds<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia and the UAE increasingly have competed over economic issues and regional politics, particularly in the Red Sea area. The two countries had jointly fought against Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthi rebels in 2015. However, that coalition broke down into recriminations in late December, when Saudi Arabia bombed what it described as a weapons shipment bound for Yemeni separatists backed by the UAE. <\/p>\n
As tensions rose in recent months, Saudi broadcasters long based in Dubai, the economic hub of the UAE, have pulled back to the kingdom. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis exit of OPEC fits into the UAE need for flexibility with key energy consumers as well — including a future relationship with China and a more competitive relationship with Saudi Arabia,\u201d said Karen Young, a senior research scholar at Columbia University\u2019s Center on Global Energy Policy.<\/p>\n
While Saudi Arabia and OPEC had no immediate reaction, Emirati Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei insisted his country\u2019s decision did not stem from any dispute with its Gulf neighbor. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working together for years and years. We have the highest respect for the Saudis for leading OPEC,\u201d al-Mazrouei told CNBC. <\/p>\n
However, the UAE sent its foreign minister rather than its ruler to a Gulf Arab leaders\u2019 meeting held Tuesday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.<\/p>\n
The UAE hosted the United Nations COP28 climate talks in 2023, a conference that ended for the first time with a pledge by nearly 200 countries to move away from planet-warming fossil fuels. But the UAE still plans to increase its production capacity in the coming years, even as it pursues more clean energy at home, a move decried by climate activists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe demand for power is going to go up and up and up,\u201d U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told an Abu Dhabi oil conference in November. \u201cToday\u2019s the day to announce that there is no energy transition. There is only energy addition.\u201d<\/p>\n
He drew widespread applause from his Emirati hosts.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press<\/p>\n
Associated Press writer David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates \u2014 The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday it will leave OPEC effective May 1,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,77],"class_list":["post-634821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}