Question: Which of the following country recently announced its withdrawal from the membership from OPEC?
(a) Kuwait
(b) Gabon
(c) Qatar
(d) Iran
Answer: (c)
Related facts:
- Qatar will quit the bloc of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC as per the announcement of its Energy Minister Mr. Saad Sherida (Saad al-Kaabi); this will come into effect from January 2019. Qatar was its member since 1961.
- Qatar notified that it would leave OPEC to focus on gas production, in a swipe at Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the group, which is trying to show unity in tackling an oil price slide.
- Qatar holds only around 2% of global oil reserves. Qatar is one of the world’s biggest Liquefied Natural Gas (LPG) exporters. It plans to boost its gas production from 77 million tonnes a year to 110 million tonnes per year by 2024.
- Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a Permanent Intergovernmental Organization of 15 oil-exporting countries created at Baghdad Conference in 1961.It is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
- Five countries namely Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela are founder members of the Organization.
Links:
https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/23.htm
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/qatar-to-quit-opec-in-2019-says-energy-minister/article25652868.ece
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-energy-secretary-perry-to-visit-saudi-arabia-qatar/4686838.html
https://in.reuters.com/article/australia-qatar-lng/australia-grabs-worlds-biggest-lng-exporter-crown-from-qatar-in-nov-idINKBN1O908E