Country to leave cartel in January 2019, but will take part in this week’s meeting

Qatar is to pull out of Opec after nearly 60 years of membership of the oil cartel, but will attend a meeting this week that will discuss cutting output.

Saad al-Kaabi, the country’s energy minister, told a news conference: “Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from Opec effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to Opec this morning.”

He said the decision was not linked to a political and economic boycott of Qatar imposed in June 2017 by Saudi Arabia, Opec’s largest member and its de facto leader, and three other Arab states – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt. They imposed a trade and travel embargo on Qatar over allegations that it supports terrorism. Doha denies the charges.

Qatar is one of the cartel’s smallest oil producers, but is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. Al-Kaabi said the gulf state had reviewed ways to enhance its role internationally, including focusing on its gas industry. Qatar wants to ramp up liquefied natural gas production from 77m to 110m tonnes a year.

He added that Qatar would still attend the Opec meeting in Vienna that starts on Thursday and will set oil policy for next year.

Opec members are widely expected to cut production, after the oil price tumbled this autumn. Brent crude slid to below $60 a barrel last week, from $86 in October, while US crude fell below $50 a barrel. However, oil prices surged on Monday after the US and China agreed a 90-day truce in their trade war at a weekend meeting of the G20 nations in Argentina.

Q&A What is Opec? Show Hide Founded in 1960, the cartel of the world’s biggest oil producers emerged as a political and economic force with the 1973-74 US oil embargo, which caused oil prices to spike. The club consists of 13 countries, with Saudi Arabia the biggest producer, followed by Iraq and Iran.

In response to the 2014-16 oil price slump, Opec partnered with Russia in December 2016 to agree a cut in production of 1.8m barrels a day. That curb, the first of its kind in 15 years, drove up the price of oil. In May 2017, the cuts were extended until the end of March 2018.



Opec's official members are: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. Indonesia and Qatar's membership has lapsed. The Opec+ group, sometimes known as ‘Vienna Group’, adds 10 non-member nations, including Russia, Mexico and Kazakhstan. Between them these nations supply 55 percent of oil production and hold 90 percent of the planet's oil reserves.

The price of Brent crude jumped 4.7% to $62.24 in early trading, while US crude was also up about 5%. BP’s share price rose 4% and Shell was up 3.5%. Mining stocks are also surging.

Qatar’s energy minister said the decision to withdraw had not been easy after 57 years of Opec membership, but noted that the country’s impact on the cartel’s production decisions was small. He stressed that Doha would abide by its global commitments like any other non-Opec oil producer.

Qatar pumps about 600,000 barrels a day, while Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter, produces 11m barrels. The emirate’s withdrawal comes as other non-Opec countries such as Russia have gained more clout alongside Saudi Arabia in setting oil policy.

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Al-Kaabi stressed the move was a “strategy decision”. “We will make a big splash in the oil and gas business soon,” he said. Doha plans to build the largest ethane cracker in the Middle East. Ethane crackers break gas down into ethylene, the main chemical used in plastics, resins, adhesives and synthetic products.

Naeem Aslam, an analyst at online broker ThinkMarkets, 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. Basically, 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. Yes, for now, there is optimism that Saudi Arabia and Russia are committed to keep the supply under control. This has jolted the price of oil higher especially the fact that Canada’s largest oil-producing province is curbing the output.”</s>DOHA: Qatar is withdrawing from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ( Opec ) as of January 2019, Saad al-Kaabi, the country's energy minister said on Monday.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.“Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership form OPEC effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to Opec this morning,” he told a news conference, adding that Qatar would still attend an OPEC meeting in Vienna this week.The announcement comes ahead of the meeting by Opec and its allies including Russia on December 6-7 to discuss cutting supply.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.He stressed that Doha would continue to abide by all its commitments like any other non-Opec oil producer.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 77 million to 110 million 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.Qatar's oil production is only around 600,000 bpd, while it is the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).Outside OPEC, Russian oil output stood at 11.37 million bpd in November, down from a post-Soviet record of 11.41 million bpd it reached in October, energy ministry data showed on Sunday.Meanwhile, oil producers in the United States continue to churn out record amounts of oil, with crude output at an unprecedented level of more than 11.5 million bpd.With drilling activity still high, most analysts expect US oil production to rise further in 2019.</s>Qatar has announced its decision to leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from January next year and focus more on the production of natural gas. Qatar’s new energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi announced the decision on Monday.

Qatar has plans to increase its annual exports of liquified natural gas, LPG from 77 million tons of gas per year to 110 million tons, the minister added.

Qatar is the world’s largest exporter of LPG. Al-Kaabi said, Qatar also wants to raise its oil production from 4.8 million barrels of oil equivalent a day to 6.5 million barrels.</s>Qatar is to leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) next month, the Gulf emirate'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 press conference in Doha.

According to the minister, the emirate will no longer remain committed to OPEC agreements.

"The withdrawal decision reflects Qatar's desire to focus its efforts on plans to develop and increase its natural gas production from 77 million tons per year to 110 million tons in the coming years," Kaabi said.

"Qatar is proud in its international standing at the forefront of natural gas producers, and as the biggest exporter of [the liquid natural gas] LNG — the cleanest fossil fuel, which has given Qatar a strong and resilient economy."

He added that OPEC was told of the decision on Monday ahead of the announcement.

Qatar, a country of 2.6 million people, discovered the offshore North Field in 1971, the same year it became independent.

It took years for engineers to discover the gas field's vast reserves, which shot Qatar to No. 3 in world rankings, behind Russia and Iran, with which it shares the North Field.</s>The minister said in a news conference that the decision came after Qatar, an OPEC member since 1961, reviewed ways to improve its role internationally and focus on its natural gas industry for its long-term strategy, according to international media.

Qatar, the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter annually for almost a decade, produced 609,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in October, compared to OPEC's 32.9 million bpd, or 1.8 percent of the cartel, according to OPEC's Monthly Oil Market Report in November.

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The decision comes at a critical time when OPEC is expected to cut its production at its much-awaited meeting on Thursday in order to increase the falling prices.

Although the minister called the decision a "technical and strategic" change, Qatar has been under pressure by its neighbors since June 2017 with a political and economic boycott.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have imposed a trade and travel embargo on Qatar for over a year, alleging that the country supports terrorism.

Qatar, meanwhile, has spent around $200 billion on infrastructure in order to open new trade routes for its economy. It has also spent $50 billion from its sovereign wealth fund into its banking sector.

By focusing on natural gas production, Qatar is expected to support its economy through LNG exports, which is estimated to increase from 77 million tonnes to 110 million tonnes per annum.

Natural gas has made Qatar one of the world’s fastest-growing and highest per-capita income countries with a $167.6 billion gross domestic product (GDP), giving its small 2.6 million population $63.500 GDP per capita, according to the World Bank.

According to OPEC's official website, Qatar is the smallest OPEC member country in terms of area and population covering an area of around 12 thousand square kilometers.

The country's proven crude oil reserves are 25.2 billion barrels at the end of 2017, according to BP's Statistical Review of World Energy 2018 report.</s>(CNN) — OPEC is losing one of its members.

The small, gas-rich state of Qatar said Monday that it will leave the oil cartel on January 1 after nearly 60 years of membership. The country’s state oil company, Qatar Petroleum, made the announcement in a series of tweets.

“The withdrawal decision reflects Qatar’s desire to focus its efforts on plans to develop and increase its natural gas production,” Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the country’s minister of state for energy affairs, was cited as saying in one of the tweets.

Qatar is the world’s leading exporter of liquified natural gas, accounting for about 30% of global demand.

For a year and a half, Qatar has been under an economic embargo by some of its neighbors including OPEC’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia. In response, Qatar increased its gas production, the mainstay of its economy, last year.

It will be the first Middle Eastern country to pull out of OPEC, which only deals with crude oil production. Qatar’s contribution has been marginal compared to some of the cartel’s biggest producers like Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It pumps about 600,000 barrels a day of the almost 25 million barrels a day from all OPEC members.

“Qatar is a fairly small producer … it was not making very much so it’s not that significant in itself,” said Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar Energy, a consultancy firm based in Dubai. “But it’s a disappointment for OPEC because they’ve been trying to attract members.”

OPEC has been expanding in Africa, with Congo and Equatorial Guinea joining recently. “If you add those up, [the production] is equal to Qatar’s so it’s kind of lost the equivalent [output] of those new members,” Mills added.

OPEC members collectively supply about 44% of the world’s crude oil. The cartel aims to monitor the market and decide to raise or lower oil production in order to maintain stable prices and supply.

Qatar has been a member of OPEC since 1961. It said the organization was aware of its decision to withdraw.</s>Gas production remains the top the priority for Qatar, which is the world's the biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas

DOHA, Qatar – Qatar will leave OPEC next month in order to focus on gas production, the Gulf state's new Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi announced in a surprise move on Monday, December 3.

Qatar has been a member of OPEC since 1961, and the decision to pull out after all these decades comes at a turbulent time in Gulf politics, with Doha under a boycott by former neighboring allies including Saudi Arabia for 18 months.

"Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from OPEC effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to OPEC this morning," Kaabi told a Doha press conference.

Kaabi, who also heads state-owned Qatar Petroleum, denied however that the move was linked to the feud with Saudi Arabia and its allies.

The decision was "technical and strategic" and had "nothing to do with the blockade", he said.

Qatar's still-influential former prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani subsequently tweeted that OPEC was of "little use" and being "used only for aims that undermine our national interest".

Qatar will continue to produce oil and seek deals in countries including Latin America's top oil producer Brazil, said Kaabi.

Some analysts saw Qatar's withdrawal as a "political decision to oppose Saudi Arabia", which alongside the United States and Russia is the biggest producer in OPEC.

"So is it really worth it to someone like Qatar to go to Vienna to meet with someone who will lead the meeting and who is your enemy?" asked Thierry Bros, a researcher with the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

"In the end, perhaps you can do without it."

Kaabi said gas production would remain the top priority for Qatar, which is the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

"We don't have great potential (in oil), we are very realistic," said Kaabi, who described himself as "Mr Gas" during the conference. "Our potential is gas."

"I think it's inefficient to focus on something that's not your core business and something that's not going to benefit you long-term."

In September, Qatar announced it plans to boost gas production to 110 million tons per year by 2024.

Qatar's oil production is around 600,000 barrels per day, making the world's 17th largest producer of crude, according to the specialist website, world data.info.

It also only holds around two percent of the world's global oil reserves, according to the CIA World Factbook.

Kaabi said that would still attend OPEC's Vienna meeting later this week, his "first and last" as energy minister.

That meeting is expected to set a policy for 2019 and despite Qatar's announcement, oil prices soared on Monday after Russia and Saudi Arabia renewed a pact to cap output on the sidelines of a G20 summit.

While there was no announcement on how much would be cut and for how long, the pact was cheered by oil traders, with Brent jumping $2.60 to $62.06 and West Texas Intermediate up $2.42 to $53.35.

Although Qatar's sudden move came out of the blue, analysts say it will have limited impact on the global market.

Fiona Cincotta, a senior market analyst at UK-based City Index, said Qatar had "surprised the market" but added it was another sign that "some major production decisions will be taken outside of OPEC" following the G20 summit that closed Saturday in Buenos Aires.

Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst for Energy Aspects consultants, argued the move would have limited impact.

"Quitting OPEC is largely symbolic for Qatar," he told Bloomberg.

"Its oil production has been steady with limited prospects for increases."

OPEC is dominated by oil-rich Saudi, which along with its allies has had no ties with Qatar since June 2017.

Relations between Riyadh and Doha are at an all-time low as a result of the crisis, which has seen Saudi-led countries accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism and being too close to Iran.

Qatar refutes the allegations and claims rivals want to overthrow its government.

But researcher Bros argued that Qatar's departure would weaken OPEC at a moment when Riyadh is battling an international outcry over the murder of journalist critic Jamal Khashoggi.

"This shows that it will become more complicated to run things (at OPEC). Those that remain are not great friends, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia," said Bros.

Kaabi meanwhile announced Qatar would "make a big splash in the oil and gas business soon," adding Doha would also build the Middle East's biggest ethane cracker, an industrial facility which converts gas to by-products, such as adhesives and ethylene for plastics. – Rappler.com</s>Qatar said on Monday it was quitting OPEC from January 2019 but would attend the oil exporter group’s meeting this week, saying the decision meant Doha could focus on cementing its position as the world’s top liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter.

Doha, one of the smallest oil producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, 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.

Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad al-Kaabi told a news conference that Qatar, which he said been a member of OPEC for 57 years, would still attend the group’s meeting on Thursday and Friday this week, and would abide by its commitments.

“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 organisation 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.

One OPEC source told Reuters the decision was more symbolic than anything else. “They are not a big producer, but have played a big part in it’s (OPEC) history,” the source said.

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.

But Doha is an influential player in the global LNG market with annual production of 77 million tonnes per year, based on its huge reserves of the fuel in the Gulf.

Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at consultancy Energy Aspects, said Qatar’s withdrawal “doesn’t affect OPEC’s ability to influence as Qatar was a very small player.”

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 percent since October.

Oil prices surged about 5 percent on Monday after the United States and China agreed to a 90-day truce in their trade war, but Brent crude is still trading at around $62 a barrel, well below October’s peak of more than $86.

Al-Kaabi, who is heading Qatar’s OPEC delegation, said the decision was not political but related to the country’s long-term strategy and plans to develop its gas industry and increase LNG output to 110 million tonnes by 2024.

OPEC members, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and fellow Arab states Bahrain and Egypt, have imposed a political and economic boycott on Qatar since June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Doha denies the charges and says the boycott aims to impinge on its sovereignty.

“A lot of people will politicise it,” Al-Kaabi said. “I assure you this purely was a decision on what’s right for Qatar long term. It’s a strategy decision.”

“We will make a big splash in the oil and gas business soon,” he said.

He said Qatar Petroleum planned to raise its production capability from 4.8 million barrels oil equivalent per day to 6.5 million barrels in the next decade. Doha also plans to build the largest ethane cracker in the Middle East.</s>Doha: Qatar will leave OPEC next month in order to focus on gas production, the Gulf state's new Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi announced in a surprise move on Monday.

Qatar has been a member of OPEC since 1961, and the decision to pull out after all these decades comes at a turbulent time in Gulf politics, with Doha under a boycott by former neighbouring allies including Saudi Arabia for 18 months.

"Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from OPEC effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to OPEC this morning," Kaabi told a Doha press conference.

Kaabi, who also heads state-owned Qatar Petroleum, denied however that the move was linked to the feud with Saudi Arabia and its allies. The decision was "technical and strategic" and had "nothing to do with the blockade", he said.

Qatar's still-influential former prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani subsequently tweeted that OPEC was of "little use" and being "used only for aims that undermine our national interest".

Qatar will continue to produce oil and seek deals in countries including Latin America's top oil producer Brazil, said Kaabi. Some analysts saw Qatar's withdrawal as a "political decision to oppose Saudi Arabia", which alongside the United States and Russia is the biggest producer in OPEC.

"So is it really worth it to someone like Qatar to go to Vienna to meet with someone who will lead the meeting and who is your enemy?" asked Thierry Bros, a researcher with the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

"In the end, perhaps you can do without it." Kaabi said gas production would remain the top priority for Qatar, which is the world's the biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

"We don't have great potential (in oil), we are very realistic," said Kaabi, who described himself as "Mr Gas" during the conference. "Our potential is gas."

"I think it's inefficient to focus on something that's not your core business and something that's not going to benefit you long-term."

In September, Qatar announced it plans to boost gas production to 110 million tonnes per year by 2024. Qatar's oil production is around 600,000 barrels per day, making the world's 17th largest producer of crude, according to the specialist website, world data.info.

It also only holds around two percent of the world's global oil reserves, according to the CIA World Factbook.

Kaabi said that would still attend OPEC's Vienna meeting later this week, his "first and last" as energy minister. That meeting is expected to set a policy for 2019 and despite Qatar's announcement, oil prices soared on Monday after Russia and Saudi Arabia renewed a pact to cap output on the sidelines of a G20 summit.

While there was no announcement on how much would be cut and for how long, the pact was cheered by oil traders, with Brent jumping $2.60 to $62.06 and West Texas Intermediate up $2.42 to $53.35. Although Qatar's sudden move came out of the blue, analysts say it will have limited impact on the global market.

Fiona Cincotta, a senior market analyst at UK-based City Index, said Qatar had "surprised the market" but added it was another sign that "some major production decisions will be taken outside of OPEC" following the G20 summit that closed Saturday in Buenos Aires.

Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst for Energy Aspects consultants, argued the move would have limited impact.

"Quitting OPEC is largely symbolic for Qatar," he told Bloomberg. "Its oil production has been steady with limited prospects for increases." OPEC is dominated by oil-rich Saudi, which along with its allies has had no ties with Qatar since June 2017.</s>DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar is withdrawing from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as of January 2019, Saad al-Kaabi, the country’s energy minister said on Monday.

The decision to withdraw from OPEC came after Qatar reviewed ways to enhance its role internationally and plan its long-term strategy, al-Kaabi told a news conference.
Qatar announces that it is withdrawing from OPEC in January 2019, after almost 60 years of membership, to focus on natural gas production.