UAE to Exit OPEC After Nearly 60 Years

A striking development has emerged in artificial intelligence. Carla Sertin Business Apr 28, 2026 11:00 AM The UAE Will Exit OPEC After Nearly 60 Years On May 1, the United Arab Emirates will end its a 59-year membership in the oil consortium, allowing it to raise output during one of the most volatile energy markets in years. Photograph: Getty Images Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story The United Arab Emirates has announced it will leave OPEC and OPEC+ effective May 1, ending a membership that began in 1967—four years before the UAE was founded as a country. This signals a turning point in the UAE's role in global energy .

The government statement, published on state news agency WAM , cited a comprehensive review of the country's production policy and capacity as the basis for the move, calling it a reflection of “the UAE’s long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile. ” The decision, it said, is rooted in national interest and a commitment to meeting what it described as the market's “pressing needs,” a reference to global demand that the UAE believes is being underserved at a time of significant supply disruption. The statement acknowledged the geopolitical backdrop—including an ongoing conflict with Iran that has severely restricted tanker movements through the Strait of Hormuz , the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which roughly a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes.

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The US Energy Information Administration estimates that Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain shut in 7. 5 million barrels per day of crude oil production in March, and 9. 1 million barrels per day in April.

However, the statement framed the exit as policy-driven rather than reactive, noting that "underlying trends point to sustained growth in global energy demand over the medium to long term. " A Long-Running Dispute Tuesday's announcement was not without precedent. In 2021, the UAE refused to endorse a production agreement to extend cuts to production unless its individual quota was raised, arguing that it had invested billions to expand capacity and was being unfairly constrained by figures set in 2018.

A compromise was eventually reached, but the episode exposed a fundamental tension: The UAE wants to produce more, and OPEC's quota system was holding it back. That ambition has only grown since. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, a state-run entity, has a stated target of 5 million barrels per day by 2027 , up from current production of around 3.

Under the OPEC+ deal, the country has been held to roughly 3. 2 million barrels per day while sitting on capacity above 4 million, a gap that made continued membership increasingly difficult to justify. The UAE stressed that its exit does not signal a retreat from global energy responsibility.

This advance offers important signals about the future of the sector, and the tech world is watching closely.