Anyone who lived through the late 1970s saw firsthand that energy is a weapon and it was used against the United States. For decades, the global oil market revolved around the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel’s controlling supply, and the rest of the world reacting to their whims. Cartel is exactly the word to describe it.
That reality is now changing, thanks to American energy dominance.
OPEC’s Cracks Are Now Visible
This week, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced it will leave OPEC after nearly 60 years. This is not a symbolic move, t’s a structural break inside the cartel. The UAE currently produces roughly 3.4 million barrels of oil per day and wants to increase that output to as much as 5 million barrels per day. OPEC quotas stand in the way of that growth, and the UAE has decided those limits are no longer acceptable.
That decision exposes a deeper problem for the cartel. OPEC’s power has always depended on discipline of its members throttling production to influence global prices. But that model only works if countries are willing to sacrifice their own economic potential. By walking away, the UAE is signaling that the benefits of competing in the global market now outweigh staying inside OPEC.
Analysts have already noted that the departure will reduce OPEC’s share of global supply and weaken its ability to coordinate prices. A cartel that cannot hold its members together cannot dictate the market together.
American Energy Changed the Equation
This shift didn’t happen in a vacuum. American energy production fundamentally reshaped global supply.
U.S. oil production has surged past 13 million barrels per day, reaching record levels and injecting a steady, reliable source of supply into the global market. As American exports expanded, they provided allies alternatives and reduced the leverage of OPEC nations that once dominated pricing decisions.
That surge in production did something decades of diplomacy never could: it diluted the cartel’s power. When supply is abundant and diversified, coordinated cuts become less effective. When markets have options, cartels lose control.
This is the core of energy dominance. The UAE’s decision to leave OPEC is a direct reflection of that new reality.
The Biden Years: From Strength to Dependence
What a difference just a few years makes.
In 2021, the Biden administration openly framed OPEC as the dominant force in global oil markets. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm acknowledged that oil was sold on a global market controlled by the cartel, reinforcing the idea that the United States had limited influence over outcomes.
That mindset quickly translated into weakness on the world stage.
In 2022, President Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia to beg OPEC to increase oil production after restricting domestic energy development at home. It was a remarkable reversal: the world’s leading energy producer appealing to a foreign cartel instead of relying on its own resources.
But the most revealing moment came behind the scenes. Joe Biden asked Saudi Arabia to delay OPEC production cuts, timed specifically to avoid political fallout ahead of the midterm elections.
That incident cannot be overlooked. At a time when American families were dealing with rising energy costs, Joe Biden and his green energy allies were not focused on unleashing domestic production but seeking to influence foreign producers to manipulate prices on a political timeline. It was collusion with a foreign power to try and hide their failures.
Destroying the Status Quo
The world energy map is changing, for the better. For years, many leaders accepted the global status quo because they believed it could not be changed, or they were too timid to do it. They viewed OPEC as an immovable force and treated American energy as something to manage rather than unleash.
The evidence shows they were wrong.
The United States does not need to beg for energy. We can produce it. We do not need to accept constraints imposed by foreign cartels. We can outcompete them.
OPEC’s weakening grip is not an accident – it is the result of American strength. And as countries like the UAE begin to move away from the cartel, the message is becoming impossible to ignore.
Energy is a weapon, and the United States is done surrendering.
