The UAE has been a member of the oil cartel since the country was founded in 1971, but in recent years, it has grown frustrated with OPEC quotas to produce less in order to keep prices high enough to appease Saudi Arabia,

The United Arab Emirates will leave OPEC effective Friday, stripping the oil cartel of its third-largest producer and further weakening its leverage over global oil supplies and prices.

The announcement came days after the United Arab Emirates withdrew from the group. The higher output will have little effect on global supplies.

The Arab oil producer has long expressed frustration with the quotas it has to follow as part of OPEC, the cartel of major state-owned oil producers.

The decision by the United Arab Emirates to leave the OPEC oil cartel has shaken up the 65-year-old alliance that produces some 40% of the world’s crude oil and exerts major influence over the price of energy around the globe.

President Donald Trump, a longtime critic of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), who has accused the group of "ripping off the rest of the world,” on Wednesday praised the United Arab Emirates’ plan to leave the alliance by the end of the month and said he thinks it will ultimately lower the price of oil.

The Gulf government has long complained about the group’s quotas, which officials believe unfairly limited its exports. Its departure is expected to weaken OPEC’s influence.

The UAE has faced repeated missile and drone attacks by Iran, a fellow OPEC member, as it responds to the U.S.-Israeli war.

The United Arab Emirates - a leading producer of crude oil - has decided to quit the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Here's why and what may happen next.