Qatar Terminates 57 Years Relationship with OPEC to Focus on LPG Exporter

Qatar, one of the smallest oil producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has announced that it was quitting the group from January 2019, saying that the decision was meant to focus on cementing its position as the world’s top liquefied natural gas (LPG) exporter instead. The country has been known to have political issues with Saudi Arabia, but Doha asserts that the decision to withdraw was not driven by politics that the country was accused of supporting terrorism.

 

The group is expecting to agree on a supply cut at the meeting on December 6, 2018, while Qatar says that it will join the meeting as well. Qatar can produce only 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), which is quite small compared with OPEC’s biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, at 11 million bpd.

Oil prices surges about 5% on Monday after the US and China agreed to a truce in their trade war at G20 summit, but Brent crude is still trading at around $62 a barrel, well below October’s peak of more than $86.

 

The source said that 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.