The UAE announces withdraws from OPEC

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The United Arab Emirates says it will withdraw from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the wider OPEC+ alliance, with effect from May 1.

The move has been rumoured for some time amid production restrictions and increasingly strained relations with neighbouring Saudi Arabia. With this withdrawal, the UAE says it will be able to set its own production levels.

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

The UAE in an announcement made via its state-run WAM news agency says the decision "reflects its 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 statement also addresses UAE's plans to continue to bring oil production to market in a "gradual and measured manner" that aligns with the global market demand. 

The UAE had been a long-time member of OPEC, first through its emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1967 and later when the UAE became its own country in 1971.