The United Arab Emirates will withdraw from the OPEC and OPEC+ oil cartels to focus on “national interests”, it has announced, causing fresh shockwaves as energy prices soar over the Middle East war.
The UAE, one of the world’s top oil producers, which has previously chafed at OPEC production quotas, will pull out on Friday, a statement carried by the official WAM news agency said on Tuesday.
“This decision reflects the UAE’s long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile,” the UAE statement said.
“During our time in the organisation, we made significant contributions and even greater sacrifices for the benefit of all,” it added.
“However, the time has come to focus our efforts on what our national interest dictates.”
Weakening OPEC?
The UAE has been an OPEC member through the emirate of Abu Dhabi since 1967, four years before the former British protectorate became a country.
The decision, in the midst of the biggest oil shock since the 1970s, is likely to weaken OPEC, dominated by the UAE’s neighbour Saudi Arabia, indicating further turbulence for markets, analysts said.
Gulf oil shipments are currently being strangled by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which flows past the UAE and normally carries one-fifth of the world’s oil.
The UAE, hard-hit by Iranian attacks, has also faced trouble in its relationship with Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, after a stand-off between rival forces backed by the two countries in Yemen.
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