The United Arab Emirates owes it to its investment ‌partners to produce what global oil markets require without restrictions, while cooperating with other crude producers, its energy minister said ​on Monday after the Gulf state left OPEC.

The UAE, one of OPEC's biggest producers, exited the group on May ​1.

"We owe it to partners investing in ⁠UAE to produce what the world requires without restrictions with collaboration with all other producers," Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said at an annual UAE industrial conference in Dubai.

Mazrouei ⁠and state energy group ⁠ADNOC's CEO said the UAE left OPEC and OPEC+ on good terms and the decision was not directed against ​anyone.

"I am confident we will be working with so many nations, including ‌members of OPEC and OPEC+... We left on good ⁠terms," Mazrouei said at the "Make It In The Emirates" conference.

Asked about OPEC and Saudi Arabia's lack of public response to the decision, Mazrouei said: "The group has been relatively calm about the decision. Everyone realises it is a sovereign decision and everyone realises that UAE will be a responsible producer."

LONG-TERM STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

"We will gauge our engagements based on requirements of the market as well as what we ‌need to produce for our local industries," Mazrouei said.

ADNOC CEO Sultan Al ⁠Jaber said the move to leave OPEC served the UAE's long-term ​strategic objectives, giving it greater ability to accelerate investment, expand and create value, while remaining a trusted and responsible partner in global energy markets.

"The United Arab Emirates' sovereign decision to reposition itself within the global energy ​landscape, and to ‌exit OPEC and OPEC+, is not a decision directed against anyone," he ⁠told the conference.

(Reporting by Yousef Saba, Additional reporting ​by Tala Ramadan; Writing by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)