United Arab Emirates says it will leave OPEC in a blow to the oil cartel

https://apnews.com/article/opec-united-arab-emirates-leaving-cartel-4966108c3fafacb67181152216deda14

United Arab Emirates says it will leave OPEC in a blow to the oil cartel
By JON GAMBRELL
Updated 9:27 AM CDT, April 28, 2026

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday that it will leave OPEC effective May 1, stripping the oil cartel of one of its largest producers and further weakening its leverage over global oil supplies and prices.

The UAE’s 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 — meaning it wasn’t able to sell as much oil to the world as it had wanted.

“Having invested heavily in expanding energy production capacity in recent years, the bigger picture is that the UAE has been itching to pump more oil; it ultimately feels that being outside of its OPEC+ ‘obligations’ will give it more ‘flexibility,’” Capital Economics wrote in an analysis.

“Today’s move fits with our existing view that the ties binding OPEC members together have loosened,” it said, particularly after Qatar withdrew from the cartel in 2019.

The UAE’s withdrawal from OPEC won’t necessarily have any immediate effects in markets. That’s 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 is transported.

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