Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Saad al-Kaabi

Qatar has announced its decision to withdraw from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad al-Kaabi told a news conference that Qatar, which has been a member of OPEC for 57 years, would still attend the group’s meeting on Thursday and Friday this week, and would abide by its commitments.

The decision to quit the bloc of 15 oil-producing countries that account for about 40 percent of the world’s oil production was also confirmed by Qatar Petroleum, the country’s state oil company.

Speaking at a news conference in Doha, al-Kaabi said: “The withdrawal decision reflects Qatar’s desire to focus its efforts on plans to develop and increase its natural gas production from 77 million tonnes per year to 110 million tonnes in the coming years.”

Qatar is the first Gulf country to leave the bloc of oil-producing countries. She joined OPEC in 1961, a year after the organisation’s establishment.

The amount of oil Qatar produced has steadily declined from about 728,000 barrels per day in 2013 to about 607.000 barrels per day in 2017, or just under 2 percent of OPEC’s total output  but total production during the same period increased from 30.7 million barrels per day to 32.4 million barrels per day.