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Energy Insight: Qatar and OPEC
(OPEC - Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries - "is a permanent intergovernmental organization of 14 oil-exporting developing nations that coordinates and unifies the petroleum policies of its Member Countries".)
Facts and Figures
Qatar was the smallest OPEC member for population (only 2.7 million) and area (12,000 square kilometres). It is a tiny country sticking out into the Persian Gulf with only one short land border to the south west with Saudi Arabia. Bahrain is to the North and the UAE to the South.
In 2017 BP ranked Qatar 14th in the world for oil reserves, but 3rd in the world for gas.
What qualified Qatar as a member of OPEC?
Qatar qualified to be a member of OPEC as they are a “country with a substantial net export of crude petroleum”. In 2017 they produced 600,000, and exported 466,000, barrels of crude per day, almost entirely to the Asia and Pacific region.
And as for gas, Qatar marketed 163,599, million cubic metres of gas in 2017 of which they exported 128,645.3 million cubic metres.What do they earn from exports?
According to OPEC, petroleum exports earned Qatar US $35,496 million in 2017. And the CIA estimate they earned a total of $67.5 billion from all exports - which included liquefied natural gas (LNG), petroleum products, fertilizers, and steel.
Why did Qatar leave OPEC?
The official reason given by Qatar for leaving is that they wish to concentrate on developing their natural gas industry.
How does Qatar plan to develop their gas industry?
Will their refineries cope with the increase?
Qatar has two refineries and is self-sufficient in petroleum products and gas, but for them to export gas it has to be converted to LNG.
Further reading
Qatar country profile. BBC News, 3 December 2018
Qatar Petroleum website. Qatar Petroleum
QP’s oil and gas fields. Qatar Petroleum