Qatar will withdraw from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on January 1, 2019, Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al Kaabi announced on Monday.
The state petroleum agency that reported the news said that the body had been informed of the move.
Qatar announces it was withdrawing from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries “OPEC” effective 1 January 2019.
— Qatar Petroleum (@qatarpetroleum) December 3, 2018
The announcement comes just days ahead of the OPEC summit in Vienna. Although there has been no agreement on cuts, the fact that Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to extend their deal to manage the oil market — known as OPEC+ — into 2019 let to a 4 per cent increase in the price of oil on the London and New York stock exchanges as markets took the move as a sign that further production cuts would be agreed in Vienna.
