UAE to leave OPEC amid Hormuz oil crisis, a blow to Saudi Arabia

The United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday that it would exit the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, along with the wider group of partners known as OPEC+, effective May 1, in what could be a blow to control over prices by the group, long led in practice by Saudi Arabia.

"We thank OPEC and its member countries for decades of constructive cooperation," UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said in a post to social media.

The move "reflects the UAE's long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile" read an official statement carried by a UAE state news agency, as disruptions "in the Strait of Hormuz continues to affect supply dynamics."