איחוד האמירויות פורשת מארגון יצרניות הנפט (אופ"ק) | פרשנות

And in addition to the announcement that the United Arab Emirates intends to leave OPEC, there's also news that the UAE is discussing possible currency swaps with the U.S. Joining us to discuss the short- and long-term ramifications of the U.S. naval blockade in the wider Iran war is David Blackman. He's an energy policy analyst, an advisor, and senior contributor for Forbes, as well as Gerard Folitti, Middle East Affairs Analyst and attorney specializing in international law. Gentlemen, thank you both for joining. David, to begin with, why is it in the UAE's economic interest to leave OPEC? Well, the UAE has been pretty frustrated for quite some time now with the quotas under the OPEC and OPEC Plus cartel agreements. They could be producing substantially more than they were prior to the advent of the Iran war. And they are interested in raising that production to raise capital for some of their other economic and societal goals, including one ambition to become the center of AI development in the Middle East. And that requires a lot of additional capital. So I think that's probably the main motivator here. And they're striking out to become – it's kind of a rational action to prioritize their national energy security above the goals of the OPEC Plus cartel, which has become less and less effective over time at controlling oil prices. Yeah, interesting. They can go their own way. Gerard, where does the UAE sit among the U.S.'s Muslim allies? And what could this exit mean for relations with the U.S.? This is a very good thing for the U.S. and for the global market in general. I think when we're moving alignment away from OPEC and the power that the cartel has had on keeping oil prices higher than the rest of the world would like them, this bodes well for the global economy. And for the U.S. specifically, it moves more in the direction of the U.S. and a market-based pricing structure with allies like the UAE now producing to fulfill demand. So that really is a benefit to the United States. And it'll be also interesting to see what happens with Venezuela, whether that might follow suit as well with the discussions that have been taking place down there so that the UAE would not be the only OPEC nation that would be leaving that cartel and aligning differently with the market.