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Qatar to quit OPEC in January, says decision taken to focus on natural gas production

Qatar has been in OPEC for 57 years, but the Gulf state’s new energy minister said that the country’s impact on OPEC production decisions was small.

Qatar to quit OPEC in January, says decision taken to focus on natural gas production

Representational Image (Photo: Getty Images)

Qatar is set to leave Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries next month in order for the Gulf state to focus on gas production, the Gulf state’s new energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, announced on Monday.

“Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from OPEC effective January 2019,” Kaabi said at a Doha press conference.

He said the organisation was told of the decision on Monday ahead of the announcement.

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He added that Qatar would still continue to produce oil but would concentrate on gas production, where it is the biggest exporter of liquified natural gas in the world.

“We don’t have great potential (in oil), we are very realistic. Our potential is gas.” Kaabi said that OPEC, which Qatar joined in 1961, was told of the decision on Monday ahead of the announcement.

Qatar has been in OPEC for 57 years, but the minister said that the country’s impact on OPEC production decisions was small.

The organisation is dominated by oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which since June 2017 has led a bloc of countries in imposing a blockade on Qatar.

OPEC is a permanent intergovernmental organization of 15 oil-exporting developing nations that coordinates and unifies the petroleum policies of its member countries.

(With inputs from AFP)

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