Oil futures dipped Friday, then recovered, after a report by The Wall Street Journal detailing strained relations between Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. The report, citing Emirati officials, said U.A.E. is having an internal debate over leaving the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. U.A.E. leaders have talked of leaving OPEC for years without taking action, the report said, but recent disagreements with Saudi Arabia have rekindled interest. The most intense disagreement is over Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. led an intervention by an Arab military coalition in 2015, the report said. The countries also clashed behind the scenes last year, when OPEC+ — made up of the cartel and its Russia-led allies — agreed to substantially cut crude production over the objections of the Biden administration. While the U.A.E. publicly supported the cut, officials privately told their U.S. counterparts that they wanted to pump more, the report said. May Brent crude BRN00, the global benchmark, was up 72 cents, or 0.8%, at $85.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling as low as $82.51 immediately after the report.
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