On 28 April 2026, the United Arab Emirates officially announced that it was leaving OPEC and OPEC+. This was the worst thing that could have happened to the cartel in decades. The UAE Energy Minister, Suhail al-Mazrouei, said that the decision was purely political, made at a time when there is a war with Iran and a crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. The Emirates accused their regional partners of not helping enough during the attacks on tankers and decided to manage production quotas themselves. This move makes Saudi Arabia weaker and helps US President Donald Trump, who has long criticised OPEC for making oil prices seem higher than they are.
The United Arab Emirates has officially announced that it is leaving OPEC and OPEC+, which is a surprise because it means less oil will be available. This decision was made at a time when there was a war with Iran and a crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. This was reported by Reuters.
On 28 April, the UAE said it was leaving OPEC and OPEC+, which is a group of countries that produce oil. This was a big blow to the alliance of these countries and its informal leader, Saudi Arabia.
If a country that has always been in OPEC leaves, OPEC might become unstable and weaker. OPEC has tried to keep together even when there have been disagreements about things like politics and how much oil each country should produce.
The UAE Energy Minister, Suhail Mohammed al-Mazrouei, explained that the decision was made after a lot of thought and a review of the country’s energy strategy. When asked about talks with Saudi Arabia, he replied that he hadn’t discussed it with any country.
The energy minister said, “This is a political decision. It was taken after we looked closely at current and future policies about how much we are going to produce.”
The Gulf countries that are members of OPEC are already finding it hard to export oil via the Strait of Hormuz. This is a key route between Iran and Oman, and around a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas is usually transported through it. This is because Iran has threatened and attacked ships.
What will happen because the UAE has left OPEC?
Mazrouei says that the situation in the Strait of Hormuz means that the UAE’s decision will not have a big effect on the market.
At the same time, the country’s decision to leave OPEC is a political win for US President Donald Trump. He had previously criticised OPEC, saying that it was ‘ripping off the rest of the world’ by artificially making oil prices higher than they should be.
Trump also said that the US military’s help for Gulf states depends on oil prices, and that OPEC members “take advantage of this by setting high prices”.
What happened before the UAE left OPEC?
The decision to leave was made after the UAE criticised other Arab states, who were accused of not providing enough support during the war against Iran. The Emirates is an important economic centre in the region and one of the US’s key allies.
Anwar Gargash, who gives advice to the UAE president, also said that he was unhappy with the other countries’ position. He said this in a speech at the Gulf Influencers Forum on 27 April.
“The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council helped each other with logistics, but when it came to politics and the military, I think their position was the weakest ever. I expected the Arab League to take such a weak stance, and I’m not surprised by it. But I did not expect the same from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and I was surprised by that,” said Gargash.
What are OPEC and OPEC+?
OPEC and OPEC+ are groups of countries that produce oil. Their main aim is to control the amount of oil produced to influence global prices and keep the market stable.
OPEC is an organisation made up of governments that was set up in 1960 and is still going strong today. Most of the members are from the Middle East, Africa and South America, with Saudi Arabia being the most influential. Member countries agree on limits for how much oil they can produce. If prices are too low, they cut production to make it seem like there’s a shortage and raise prices.
OPEC+ is a group that was formed in 2016. This was because OPEC’s control over prices was no longer enough. It includes all OPEC countries and several other major oil exporters that are not officially part of the organisation. Russia is the biggest and most important of these countries.