The OPEC Secretary General, His Excellency Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, has confirmed that he has received a letter from the State of Qatar giving notice of its intention to withdraw from its membership of OPEC, pursuant to Article 8 of the OPEC Statute, with effect from 1 January 2019.
The letter from His Excellency Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, also expressed sincere appreciation to OPEC Member Countries, the OPEC Secretary General and all OPEC staff.
In a statement, OPEC stated that every member country has the sovereign right to withdraw from the organisation and this requires no approval from the OPEC Conference. The organisation respects the decision taken by the State of Qatar.
The OPEC Secretariat expresses thanks to the State of Qatar for its support of the organisation over the many decades of its membership.
In the past three years, OPEC has seen Gabon (2016) rejoin the organisation and welcomed new members, Equatorial Guinea (2017) and the Republic of the Congo (2018).
OPEC remains fully committed to achieving and sustaining balance and stability in the market, through the organisation, and with the landmark ‘Declaration of Cooperation’, alongside 10 participating non-OPEC countries.
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