Kremlin hopes UAE exit doesn't mean end of OPEC

Russia plans to remain in OPEC+ despite the United Arab Emirates' decision to withdraw, the Kremlin said on Monday, expressing hope that the oil producers' alliance will continue to function amid turmoil in the global energy market.

The UAE said on Tuesday it would leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a blow to the group as an energy crisis sparked by a war with Iran has exposed divisions among Gulf states.

The UAE was the fourth-largest producer in the OPEC+ grouping, which consists of OPEC members and their allies, while Russia was second, behind Saudi Arabia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said OPEC+ remains an important organization, especially during the current turmoil in global markets.

"This format helps, for example, to significantly reduce oscillations in energy markets and enables the stabilization of these markets," Peskov said at a regular briefing.

Peskov, however, said that Russia respects the UAE's decision to leave the organization and hopes that Moscow's energy dialogue with the Gulf state will continue.

Russia joined OPEC+ in 2016, Reuters reported, adding that the group produced almost half of the world's oil and liquid fuels last year, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency.

Peskov later said that the UAE had not informed Moscow in advance about its plan to withdraw from OPEC+.

"No, they did not warn us. It is a sovereign decision of the United Arab Emirates. We respect that decision," he was quoted as saying by the state-run RIA news agency.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said today that the UAE's decision could lead countries to increase production, which would bring down global prices in the future.

"If OPEC countries pursue their policies uncoordinated after the UAE's exit and produce as much oil as their production capacities allow and as much as they want, prices will fall accordingly," Siluanov said.

For now, oil prices are supported by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, he said, and any potential oversupply will only become a risk once the strait reopens.