Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Submission Preview

Link to Story

Qatar to Pull Out of OPEC by 2019

Accepted submission by takyon at 2018-12-03 14:43:14
Business

Qatar Will Pull Out Of OPEC, As Rift With Saudi Arabia Deepens [npr.org]

Qatar plans to leave OPEC in January, shaking up the alliance of oil-producing nations and furthering its dispute with Saudi Arabia. Qatar made the announcement on Monday — the same day it informed OPEC.

Qatar's Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi said the small Persian Gulf country will leave OPEC because it wants to focus on natural gas — a sector in which Qatar is a world leader. But the move also draws another line of division with Saudi Arabia, the only country with which Qatar shares a land border.

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Qatar in June of 2017, in a dramatic move that was matched by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and others. Since then, Saudi Arabia has maintained a boycott against Qatar, a country that has sometimes pursued its own foreign policy goals against the will of its fellow Sunni states.

[...] Qatar's exit from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will become official on Jan. 1, 2019, Kaabi said at a news conference in Doha Monday. The country will still attend the group's winter meeting in Vienna, which is scheduled to begin on Thursday.

See also: Qatar to quit OPEC after more than 57 years, denies decision related to Saudi-led boycott [cnbc.com]


Original Submission