After being a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for 57 years, Qatar has resolved to quit the group in January 2019.
The country’s minister of state for energy affairs Saad al-Kaabi made the shock announcement on Monday, confirming that Qatar would still attend the group’s meeting scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
“Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from OPEC effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to OPEC this morning,” the minister said.
“For me to put efforts and resources and time in an organization that we are a very small player in and I don’t have a say in what happens.
“Practically it does not work, so for us it’s better to focus on our big growth potential,” he said.
The decision meant Qatar could focus on cementing its position as the world’s top liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter.
Despite being one of the smallest oil producers in the elite group, it is locked in a diplomatic dispute with the group’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia but said the move to leave OPEC was not driven by politics.
Mr Al-Kaabi said that his country would nevertheless still abide by its commitments to the group.
Qatar has oil output of only 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared with the 11 million bpd produced by Saudi Arabia, the group’s biggest oil producer and world’s biggest exporter.
OPEC and its allies including Russia are expected to agree on a supply cut at this week’s meeting in a bid to support crude prices that have slid almost 30 per cent since October.
Oil prices surged about 5 per cent on Monday after the US and China agreed to a 90-day truce in their trade war.
