Qatar quits international oil cartel Opec amid ongoing regional tensions
Qatar will leave the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) next month, its energy minister said today.
“Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from Opec effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to Opec this morning,” Saad al-Kaabi, the country’s energy minister said at a press conference.
The decision came after Qatar, one of Opec’s smallest producers but the world’s largest liquefied natural gas exporter, reviewed ways to enhance its role internationally and plan long-term strategy, including focusing on its gas industry, he said.
The minister said the decision was not easy as Qatar has been in Opec for 57 years, but that the country’s impact on Opec production decisions was small.
The withdrawal decision reflects Qatar’s intent to focus its efforts on developing its natural gas industry, the minister said, as the Gulf Arab state moves to increase LNG production from 77m to 110m tonnes annually.
He said the decision was not linked to a political and economic boycott of Qatar imposed since June 2017 by Opec’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia and three other Arab states.
The announcement comes ahead of the meeting by Opec and its allies including Russia on 6-7 December to discuss cutting supply.
Naeem Aslam of Think Markets said: "Qatar leaving Opec isn't great news for the oil market and the market participants haven't digested the full impact of this news.
"The Qataris have brought the biggest weapon out and it only means more instability between the Qatari and Saudi relationship. In fact, we would not be surprised if other counties start to follow the same path and then we have no control over supply or demand as each individual country could just do what they like."