Qatar will leave the oil producers’ group Opec in January to focus on liquefied natural gas.
Qatar has been a member of the organisation for 57 years, and is the first country to leave since Indonesia withdrew in 2008.
The decision comes during a diplomatic dispute between Qatar and Opec’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia. However, Doha said the departure was not linked to politics.
Qatar’s minister of state for energy affairs, Saad al-Kaabi, said: “For me to put efforts and resources and time in an organisation that we are a very small player in and I don’t have a say in what happens ... practically it does not work, so for us it’s better to focus on our big growth potential.”
He told a news conference that Qatar would still attend the group’s meeting on Thursday and Friday this week, and would abide by its commitments.
Naeem Aslam at online broker Think Markets said the move was not good news for the oil market.
Mr Aslam said: “Basically, Qataris have brought the biggest weapon out and it only means more instability between the Qatari and Saudi relationship.
“In fact, we would not be surprised if other countries start to follow the same path – and then we have no control over supply or demand as each individual country could just do what they like.”
He added: “Yes, for now, there is optimism that Saudi Arabia and Russia are committed to keep the supply under control. This has jolted the price of oil higher especially the fact that Canada’s largest oil-producing province is curbing the output.”
Global benchmark Brent crude was up more than 4.5 per cent at $62.16 (£55.43) on Monday morning.
