UAE says it will leave OPEC effective May 1

AP dubai

The United Arab Emirates announced on Tuesday that it will leave the oil cartel OPEC and its wider OPEC+ group effective May 1. The move had been rumoured for some time as the Emirates chafed under production restrictions and faced increasingly frosty relations with Saudi Arabia.

The UAE had been a longtime member of OPEC.

But the UAE has been increasingly trying to leverage its own foreign policy in the Middle East that has contradicted some positions of Riyadh over time—particularly as Saudi Arabia began to directly challenge the Emirates in trying to draw foreign investments as the kingdom opened up under assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The UAE made the announcement via its state-run WAM news agency.

“This decision reflects the UAE's long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile, including accelerated investment in domestic energy production, and reinforces its commitment to a responsible, reliable, and forward-looking role in global energy markets,” the UAE said.

Following its exit, the UAE will continue to act responsibly, bringing additional production to market in a gradual and measured manner, aligned with demand and market conditions, the country added.