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 3rd), AFP reported.
Qatar has been a member of OPEC since 1961.
"Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from OPEC effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to OPEC this morning," al-Kaabi told a Doha press conference.
Al-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 would continue to produce oil and seek deals in countries including Latin America's top oil producer Brazil, al-Kaabi said.
Al-Kaabi said gas production would remain the top priority for Qatar, which is the world's biggest exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG).
"We do not have great potential (in oil), we are very realistic," al-Kaabi said. "Our potential is gas. I think it is inefficient to focus on something that is not your core business and something that is not going to benefit you long-term."
In September, Qatar announced it planned to boost gas production to 110 million tonnes per year by 2024.
Qatar's oil production is around 600,000 barrels per day, and it is the world's 17th largest producer of crude oil, according to the worlddata.info website.
OPEC had been informed of the decision Monday ahead of the announcement, al-Kaabi said, adding he would still attend the Vienna meeting this week, his "first and last" as energy minister.
That meeting is expected to set a policy for 2019.
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.
