Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, attends a meeting with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain. | UAE Presidential Court / via REUTERS

DUBAI – The United Arab Emirates' decision to quit OPEC and OPEC+ has brought years of tensions with Saudi Arabia out into the open, marking a strategic break with Saudi-led oil governance in a rebalancing of power shaped by the Iran war.

Political analysts and regional experts said the move to leave the groups of oil-producing nations, announced on Tuesday, was more than just a dispute over OPEC oil output quotas that Gulf sources say Abu Dhabi sees as tilted against the UAE.

It is also part of a deeper rupture in ties in which Abu Dhabi is prioritising autonomy over deference to Riyadh, they said, and ​using oil as a tool to express its autonomy and show it will not be dictated to.

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