This morning, at Euronews Romania, Eugenia Gusilov commented on the lack of diesel in some gas stations in the country, a situation seen rather as a local and temporary anomaly, and on the announcement that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will leave OPEC from May 1, 2026. OPEC membership has acted more like a straitjacket lately. The production limitation policy was against the emirates, with an average production of 3 Mb/day in 2024 and 3.5 Mb/day as the OPEC quota by May 2026, in the context where they can produce 4.8 Mb/day and have invested to increase production capacity up to 5 Mb/day until 2027. The Emirates do not want to be tied down and will break free from the OPEC quota to produce as much as possible, especially now that tourism revenues may decrease. For consumers, this will not necessarily translate into lower prices. In general, cartels are not good for consumers, so the weakening of OPEC by the loss of the UAE is not necessarily bad news. See more