The future of OPEC is on shaky ground, an analyst told The Wall Street Journal on Monday, December 3, after Qatar abruptly announced it would sever ties with the influential oil cartel after almost six decades.
Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi said at a news conference Monday that Doha would leave OPEC on January 1, 2019. The decision comes just days before OPEC and its allies are scheduled to hold a much-anticipated meeting in Vienna, Austria.
State-run company Qatar Petroleum announced on its Twitter account thaty Qatar Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi had said at a press conference that the country would withdraw from the organization by January 2019. An OPEC official in Vienna confirmed it was aware of the decision.
The move “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,” he was quoted as saying.
