ZCZC
BCN-22
QATAR-ENERGY-OPEC
Qatar to quit OPEC in 2019: energy minister
DOHA, Dec 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Qatar is to leave OPEC next month in order
for the Gulf state to focus on gas production, 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 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.
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.
BSS/AFP/HR/1300