UAE to Withdraw From OPEC and OPEC+ Effective May 1

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates declared on Tuesday that it is withdrawing from OPEC and the wider OPEC+ alliance, with the departure taking effect on May 1. The decision had been whispered about for months, fuelled by Emirati frustration with output caps and a steadily cooling relationship with neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Membership in the cartel began in 1967, when the emirate of Abu Dhabi joined, and continued after the UAE was formed as a unified country in 1971. In recent years, however, Abu Dhabi has been pursuing a foreign policy of its own across the Middle East, often at odds with the line taken by Riyadh — especially as Saudi Arabia, under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has aggressively courted the same foreign investors the Emirates relies on.

The news was carried by the state-controlled 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 country 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 statement added.

Saudi Arabia has long been viewed as the dominant force inside OPEC, the Vienna-based cartel whose grip on global markets has eased in recent years as American crude output has climbed. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have increasingly found themselves on opposite sides of economic and political questions, particularly across the Red Sea region.

The two governments fought side by side from 2015 in the coalition battling Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, but that partnership unravelled in late December when Saudi forces struck what they said was a weapons shipment heading to Yemeni separatist factions supported by the UAE. Tensions have also been visible in the media sector, with several Saudi broadcasters previously based in Dubai — the UAE's commercial centre — relocating back to the kingdom in recent months.