The UAE’s Departure From OPEC Shakes Up the Alliance

When the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets today, 29 April, it will be considering the departure of one of its longest-standing members. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has been part of the cartel since Abu Dhabi joined in 1967, has announced it will leave on 1 May. The war in Iran and its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have choked off the region’s energy exports, hammering the UAE and its neighbours in the Gulf. Now it has driven OPEC’s third-biggest oil exporter to go it alone. In announcing its country’s departure, the UAE’s energy ministry…