Energy
May 03, 2026
“I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man’s,” wrote English poet William Blake. Though not enslaved, the UAE was at least constrained by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), which it left as of Friday. The energy world does indeed need a new system.
The reasons for the UAE’s exit highlight four ways in which its approach to energy has moved ahead of its former colleagues’. First, the nation had for years been frustrated that its oil production quota lagged ever-further behind its capacity.
Opec itself has repeatedly said that more investment in oil is required: $17.4 trillion by 2050, as it stated last March. Adnoc, as the UAE’s dominant oil company, spent tens of billions of dollars to raise capacity to 4.85 million barrels per day, in pursuit of a target of 5 million bpd by 2027, and perhaps eventually to 6 million bpd.
