UAE Minister of Energy Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei speaks to reporters in 2025
Why the UAE decided to quit OPEC
The UAE’s departure from the oil producers’ group was a surprise to many, but the move can be traced back to a single point five years ago
The decision by the UAE to leave OPEC and OPEC+ stunned the world—but it did not emerge out of thin air. It was the culmination of a structural shift that can be traced with unusual precision to a single moment: a confrontation five years ago within OPEC+. By the summer of 2021, OPEC+, the alliance dominated by Saudi Arabia and Russia since its creation in 2016, was trying to put together a production strategy for post-COVID energy markets. The pandemic had collapsed oil demand and prices, and the producers had to figure some way for an orderly return of barrels and the restoration of price stability after the wild gyrations of the previous year. All OPEC+ members would have to apply product
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