{"id":126422,"date":"2026-04-29T10:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/?p=126422"},"modified":"2026-04-29T10:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:34:15","slug":"oil-holds-near-one-month-peak-as-uae-bolts-from-opec-and-trump-tightens-iran-chokehold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/oil-holds-near-one-month-peak-as-uae-bolts-from-opec-and-trump-tightens-iran-chokehold\/04\/29\/market-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil Holds Near One-Month Peak as UAE Bolts from OPEC and Trump Tightens Iran Chokehold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Prices steady near highs:<\/strong> Brent crude rose 0.2% to $111.51 per barrel, while WTI eased 0.3% to $99.63 \u2014 both still hovering near their strongest levels since late March after Tuesday&#8217;s 3%+ surge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Extended blockade ahead:<\/strong> A WSJ report says Trump has instructed aides to prepare for a prolonged blockade of Iran, intensifying efforts to choke off Tehran&#8217;s oil exports.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Iran offer rejected:<\/strong> Trump turned down Tehran&#8217;s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, demanding tougher curbs on its nuclear program before any deal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>UAE quits OPEC:<\/strong> The Emirates&#8217; departure from the producer group becomes effective Friday \u2014 a major blow to OPEC during ongoing war-driven supply disruptions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>UAE-Saudi rift:<\/strong> The exit puts Abu Dhabi at odds with neighbor Saudi Arabia, OPEC&#8217;s effective leader, with the UAE having long chafed against production quotas.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Production hike on hold:<\/strong> While the UAE is expected to ramp up output, any increase is likely contingent on Hormuz reopening \u2014 a distant prospect.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>20% of global supply blocked:<\/strong> The strait has been effectively closed since late February, fueling the prolonged surge in crude prices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil prices steadied near a one-month high in choppy trading on Wednesday, as markets digested the implications of the United Arab Emirates&#8217; decision to break away from the OPEC producer group alongside the ongoing supply disruptions across the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Crude prices had briefly rallied more than 1% after a report indicated that U.S. President Donald Trump was bracing for an extended blockade of Iran \u2014 a move that could pave the way for prolonged disruptions in Middle Eastern oil shipments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brent crude futures rose 0.2% to $111.51 per barrel by 01:01 ET (05:01 GMT), while West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 0.3% to $99.63 per barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both benchmarks rocketed more than 3% higher on Tuesday and remained near their strongest levels since late March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Trump Bracing for Prolonged Iran Blockade \u2014 WSJ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump has directed his aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The president opted to ratchet up efforts to strangle Iran&#8217;s oil exports and pile additional pressure on Tehran to come to a deal, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WSJ also revealed that Trump rejected Iran&#8217;s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and bring the war to a close, with Washington insisting on tougher restrictions on Tehran&#8217;s nuclear program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iran has consistently denounced the U.S. blockade and has demanded its removal as a precondition for any peace negotiations. While Trump indefinitely extended a ceasefire with Iran last week, efforts to advance U.S.-Iran peace talks have largely collapsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A prolonged blockade against Iran is likely to herald further supply disruptions from the region, given that Tehran has pledged to keep Hormuz shut down in response to American aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">UAE Departs OPEC Amid War-Driven Turmoil<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The UAE&#8217;s withdrawal from OPEC \u2014 set to take effect on Friday \u2014 represents a major blow to the oil producing group amid persistent disruptions linked to the Iran war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UAE said the move was aimed at focusing more closely on its &#8220;national interests.&#8221; Yet the decision sets the country on a collision course with neighbor Saudi Arabia, the effective leader of OPEC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Emirates is broadly expected to ramp up oil production, given that it has long objected to OPEC&#8217;s production quotas in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz still blocked, any production boost is likely to materialize only after the channel reopens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That scenario appeared distant, with Hormuz still shuttered and efforts to broker further U.S.-Iran talks largely falling apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hormuz&#8217;s closure since late February has disrupted roughly 20% of the world&#8217;s oil supplies, igniting an extended surge in crude prices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Prices steady near highs: Brent crude rose 0.2% to $111.51 per barrel, while WTI eased 0.3% to $99.63 \u2014 both still hovering near their strongest levels since late March after Tuesday&#8217;s 3%+ surge. Extended blockade ahead: A WSJ report says Trump has instructed aides to prepare for a prolonged blockade of Iran, intensifying &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":115753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,6827,49,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-commodities-news","category-daily-economic-reports","category-economic-reports","category-market-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126423,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126422\/revisions\/126423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}