{"id":27352,"date":"2026-04-29T03:17:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stingfm.com\/news\/more-countries-very-likely-to-leave-opec-ex-uae-diplomat-to-rt\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T03:17:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:17:28","slug":"more-countries-very-likely-to-leave-opec-ex-uae-diplomat-to-rt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stingfm.com\/news\/more-countries-very-likely-to-leave-opec-ex-uae-diplomat-to-rt\/","title":{"rendered":"More countries \u2018very likely\u2019 to leave OPEC \u2013 ex-UAE diplomat to RT"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The UAE\u2019s decision to withdraw from the cartel had been \u201ca long time coming,\u201d Obaid Ahmed Al-Zaabi has said<\/strong><\/p>\n

More countries are \u201cvery likely\u201d<\/em> to withdraw from OPEC following the United Arab Emirates\u2019 decision to leave the group, former UAE diplomat to the UN and World Trade Organization Obaid Ahmed Al-Zaabi told RT.<\/p>\n

The Gulf nation announced its intent to leave the cartel and broader OPEC+, which brings together OPEC members and other key oil-producing countries, on Tuesday. The withdrawal is set to come into force on May 1.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The UAE\u2019s decision has been a \u201clong time coming,\u201d<\/em> Al-Zaabi has said, arguing that the country has been \u201csubstantially\u201d<\/em> restricting its production while many other members of the groups have been limited by their output capacities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UAE is no longer entirely dependent on oil and hydrocarbons, and our economy is highly invested all over the world. The organization OPEC acted as a tax on global productivity, and it\u2019s now in our interest to see the world as productive as possible. Also, it costs the UAE the most to impose OPEC,\u201d<\/em> the ex-diplomat argued.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Key OPEC member to leave bloc<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At the same time, Al-Zaabi suggested that the withdrawal was driven more by \u201cother geopolitical realities\u201d<\/em> rather than oil itself, pinning the blame on Iran\u2019s retaliatory actions against its Gulf neighbors in the wake of the US-Israeli attack.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hardly seems in the UAE\u2019s interest to collude with Iran on the oil price when we\u2019re being directly struck by them,\u201d<\/em> he argued.<\/p>\n

More countries are very likely\u00a0to follow suit and leave the cartel, the former diplomat said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is very likely, because the more people that defect, the more costly it is to maintain the volume restriction. So if the UAE is serious and they no longer respect the limits, then there\u2019s going to be no incentive for Kuwait and other countries to reduce their production.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watch the full video below:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n