Qatar to withdraw from OPEC in 2019

Muscat: Qatar will be withdrawing from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 2019, the country’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi has announced.
“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.
Kaabi however explained that this decision was not political, "The decision to exit Qatar from OPEC is not political, but is due to technical reasons only regarding Qatar's future strategy towards the energy sector."
Kaabi added, "As Qatar seeks to establish itself as a reliable supplier of energy to all parts of the world, it has had to review its role and contribution globally in the field of energy, and how to strengthen that role and those contributions in a way that serves Qatar's long-term goals and strategy."
The Minister also said, "Qatar's oil production is not large and therefore the oil market will not be affected by the decision to withdraw from the Organisation, and Qatar will be committed to the decisions of OPEC until the end of its membership.

— With inputs from AFP